It's All In The Timing
by CSIsnickers101
Summary: Another Snickers story. Nick doesn't know what he wants anymore, but knows just the person to turn to. With a clear head, all he has to do now is get the timing right.
1. Chapter 1

It's All In The Timing

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI. Just the characters you don't recognise belong to me.

A/N: This is my first multi-chapter story in over a year, and the last one I started hasn't been finished yet. But anyway, this one will get finished as it's already practically written in my head. So here's the first chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter 1

"I thought this shift would never end," Nick sighed exasperatedly as he closed his locker door.

"Tell me about it," Sara agreed, equally as exhausted as her colleague. "That house seemed to have had an extension built on whilst we were there. We were there, what, ten hours? It felt at least twice that."

"Wow. Am I actually hearing this? Are you complaining about work, Sara?" Nick asked, mocking a gasp and a shocked expression.

"I'm allowed to have bad days too, you know," she smirked, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"Well, at least you don't have to drive all the way to Dallas now," Nick rubbed his tired eyes.

Sara raised an eyebrow. "Going home to see your parents?" she guessed.

"Yeah, but if I would've known about this case I would've left yesterday," he stated. "Or not at all."

"How long are you going for?"

"Only a week. That's all the time I could get right now, and probably the maximum amount of time I can put up with my family," he smiled.

"That's families for you," Sara shrugged.

"My mum's the worse for it. Always asking me questions and complaining that I don't visit enough," Nick shook his head at the thought, leaning again his locker. "I'm not really in the mood for all that now."

"You should go," Sara insisted politely. "It'll be good for you to get away for a bit."

Nick gave her a look as he scoffed. "This coming from you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, alright. So take it from someone who knows; everyone needs a break every once in a while. And I'm better at taking time off now, before you start."

"I don't want to leave now, not with this case actually getting somewhere," Nick explained, half-hearted trying to convince Sara to see things his way.

"I'm sure we'll manage. And if we can't we'll call you," Sara pursed her lips to prevent a smile. "Go and see your family, Nick. Have a good time and forget about us for a little while."

"It's impossible to forget you, Sara," he grinned.

"Just go," she gave him a gentle shove.

"Ok, I'm going," Nick started walking backwards towards the door. "Try not to miss me too much, now won't you?"

"It'll be a struggle, but I'll survive," Sara smirked, her voice thick with sarcasm. "I'll see you next week."

"Yes you will," Nick winked before leaving the room.

Sara chuckled to herself as she pulled on her jacket and did her best to subdue a yawn.

Nick popped home quickly to pick up his small suitcase of clothes and essentials that he was taking to his parents house. He made sure his doors and windows were all securely locked before heading to the diner to grab a quick bite to eat and drink as much coffee as he could in thirty minutes.

Several hours later Nick pulled into the driveway of his childhood home, noting that it wasn't as big as he had remembered it to be. That must have been memories from his childhood taking over. He climbed out of his car, also noticing the difference in temperature in Dallas to the place that was now his home. Making his way towards the front door, Nick knew instantly that he was going inside and going straight to bed for a few hours at the very least.

He went to use his key, naturally expecting for the door to be locked, but whilst trying to open the door he pushed down the handle and it opened without needing to be unlocked. He initially thought it was strange but stepped inside his old home regardless.

"Nicky," Gillian, Nick's mum, walked through from the living room and greeted him with open arms.

"Hi mum," he hugged her back, sounding slightly confused. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

"I took the day off," she explained. "Couldn't have you coming home to an empty house."

"You really didn't have to," Nick insisted, shaking his headed slightly.

"I wanted to," Gillian smiled. "Now come in, make yourself comfy. Want some breakfast?"

"No, thanks. I ate before I left," he explained, following his mum into the large family kitchen.

"So is that why it took you so long to get here?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"There was traffic, mum. I didn't have any control over that," Nick rolled his eyes.

"What did you eat?" Gillian's question was met with an incredulous expression. "I have to make sure my son is looking after himself."

Nick let out a sigh. "I can look after myself just fine, you know mum. I've been doing it for long enough now."

"I know, I know. I'm just pleased to see you, that's all," she insisted. "And I'm your mother, so it's my job to worry about you, no matter how old you are."

"Where's dad?" Nick wondered, making his way into the kitchen.

"He's working, some corporate thing. But he doesn't think he'll have to work late tonight, so he'll he home in a few hours," Gillian explained.

"What about you? How's work?"

"I could ask you the same thing," she raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I suppose it's fair to say that neither of us are ever going to be out of a job," Nick smiled, letting out a slow sigh.

"You more so than me," Gillian added.

"What makes you say that?" Nick wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not getting any younger, Nicky," she stated. "Neither is your father. We're both making the most of it while we still can."

Nick merely nodded. "So, what about the rest of the family?" he asked, somewhat reluctantly, almost dreading the answer before he'd even asked the question.

"I've invited everyone here tonight for a barbecue and a big family get together," Gillian explained. "It's the only night everyone can make it. And it's been so long since we've managed to have the whole family in the same place at the same time. Last time you were here Angie was out of town and then at weekends when I can manage to get everyone here you're always missing."

"Yes, I know, mum. I'm sorry. You know I wish I could visit more but it's tough getting time off and my work is really important to me," Nick stated, rather more defensively, borderline sternly, than he had intended.

"That doesn't mean your family can be any less important," she countered, raising an eyebrow.

Nick simply sighed. "I don't want to argue with you. I don't want us falling out after I've only just come home."

"I know, I know," Gillian held her hands up in defeat. "But you're father and I miss you, that's all. Everyone misses you."

"I miss you too, mum."

"Oh, come here," she exclaimed, throwing her arms open. "I need another hug."

Gillian pulled away reluctantly after Nick protested and practically begged his mother to let go of him.

"If you've eaten already then can I get you a drink? Some coffee? Some orange juice?" she asked.

"Orange juice would be good. But I know where everything is, mum," Nick smiled. "I can get it myself."

"I don't know about that," Gillian said, reaching inside one of the cupboards above the sink for two small glasses. "Your father has a habit of rearranging everything. Nothing is in the same place two weeks in a row."

She placed one glass down on the table in front of Nick and retrieved a carton of fresh orange juice from the fridge and continued to fill the small glass. She proceeded to pour herself some before taking a seat at the dinning room table.

"Thanks," Nick smiled at his mother.

"Come on, sit down," she insisted, shifted in her seat to face him correctly. "So honestly, how is work?"

"Fine, just the same as usual," Nick answered honestly, covering his mouth when a yawn took over her face.

"Promise me you'll try and stay safe?" Gillian asked, furrowing her brow in concern.

Nick nodded smiling sincerely. "I'll try."

"You'll do more than try, Nicky," his mother exclaimed.

"I'm just joking, mum," he rolled his eyes, trying to stop himself from yawning. "I promise."

"You really shouldn't do that to me," she insisted.

"I know, I'm sorry. But mum, I'm a scientist not a bounty hunter," Nick pointed out.

"You still carry a gun for a living," she maintained. "And you come face to face with people who want to shoot you on a near daily basis."

"I'm fully aware of that," Nick stated softly. "But please, mum, stop worrying."

"I can't stop worrying. I'm your mother; it's what mothers do. I worry about all of you all the time, even though you're grown up now and have families of your own," Gillian explained.

"It's a wonder you have time to do anything else," Nick tried to smile but a yawn took over his face instead.

"Oh, sorry. You've been up all night, of course you're tired. Why don't you go upstairs for a few hours?" she suggested. "We've got a whole week to catch up, so you should try and get some sleep."

"I think I'll do that," Nick agreed. He stood up and stretched, yawning for the third time.

"Sorry I've not been much company so far."

"A few hours sleep will change that," Gillian maintained, giving him a look of concern and strong encouragement as only a mother can.

"Will you...?" Nick started.

"Yes, I'll wake you in a few hours," Gillian interrupted.

"Thanks, mum," Nick gave his mother a peck on the cheek.

With that, Nick shared one last smile with his mother before heading upstairs to his former childhood bedroom, collecting his small suitcase that he'd abandoned in the hallway on the way in. Once he had changed into something more suitable to sleep in, in this instance the pyjamas his mum had bought him for Christmas that he had felt almost compelled to take with him, Nick got settled in his bed. Yawning again, his thoughts seemed to eventually slow down allowing him to gently fall into a deep slumber.

Deep, it was. Long, it wasn't. Just over an hour later Nick woke suddenly, confused and dazed. He couldn't figure out what had woke him up but decided to worry about that later after he'd gotten more rest. But sadly, he couldn't fall back to sleep. He tried and he tried, tossed and turned for what felt like hours until finally he gave up. He was exhausted, spent most of his time whilst changing position yawning, so why on earth could he not sleep? Ah yes, that was why. She was why. He had tried so many times over the years to get her out of his head but as always that was a task that always resulted in failure.

Several hours later the entire Stokes family had invaded the living room and kitchen of the large house, though with so many people around the house suddenly felt very small. Nick had managed to eventually doze off again but then was rudely awoken a short time later by his dad slamming the front door closed as he returned home from work. Just what he needed. Nick climbed out of bed like a stroppy teenager and remained in a grumpy mood for the rest of the day.

He was pretty much the centre of attention, which he did not enjoy one bit. Each one of his nieces and nephews wanted to speak to him or wanted him to join in with their game in the back garden. His sisters all wanted to speak to him too, wanting to discuss girly things and his failed love life, as well as his brother and brothers-in-law, who thankfully only cared about examining the latest Dallas Cowboys game. He was being pulled in all directions. While he did love each member of his family a great deal he was being suffocated by them all. And if that wasn't bad enough his mind still was racing with thoughts of Vegas and the people he'd left behind.

"Hey, Nicky," Angie, his eldest sister, greeted cheerfully as she walked towards him. She had waited patiently whilst various other family members interrogated him like he would interrogate a suspect in a case.

Nick forced an equally wide smile, as her presence broke him out of his reverie. "Hey, Angie."

She reached out and hugged him gently. "It's good to see you," she insisted once she pulled away.

"You too," Nick nodded. "You look good."

"So do you," she replied. "How's Vegas treating you?"

Nick shrugged, pursing his lips thoughtfully. "You know… the same as always."

"It's good to have you here, Nicky," Angie smiled.

"Glad to know I'm missed," Nick smirked.

"I never said that," Angie insisted, teasing him.

Nick laughed lightly, yet awkwardly.

"You okay? You seem a little down," Angie asked, looking concerned.

"I'm just tired," he answered, this time forcing only a small smile.

"Well, you'd better sort that out soon. We have big plans for you this week," Angie stated, humour in her voice.

"Can't wait," Nick said dryly, giving his sister a look.

"I'll see you later," Angie walked away chuckling to herself.

Nick swiftly returned to his previous task. He looked attentive as he sat in the corner of the room and mulled over every thought whizzing round his head. If he were being honest with himself he knew he was being ridiculous but he couldn't get her out of his head. It was time to fess up, to himself more that anyone else; he couldn't stop thinking about Sara. And this wasn't the first time she had practically taken over his brain.

"Please tell me he's not been like this since he arrived?" Bill asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, he seemed fine when he got here, just tired. He went up for a few hours earlier but he mustn't have got much sleep," Gillian explained, glancing over at their youngest son at the other side of the room. "I'm sure he'll be back to his normal self tomorrow after he's had a good nights sleep."

"Really?" Bill didn't seem convinced.

"Yeah. You're just over thinking it, Bill," she insisted. "Nicky will be fine."

"Well as long as he gets rid of that stupid glum expression on his face," Bill commented. "He looks as though we're holding him hostage."

"He would probably say we were," Gillian pursed her lips before speaking up and addressing the room full of people. "Ok, who wants ice cream?"

"I do! I do!" came the shrill reply from her younger grandchildren. How excited they all seemed to get over ice cream just about brought a small smile to Nick's face.

Thank you for reading. I hope to have the next chapter up soon, and with any luck the chapters will be posted fairly regularly. Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

A/N: This one is longer than the first chapter but I hope it's worth the extra reading time. Let me know what you think.

Chapter 2

Nick sat on his parents' sofa early the next morning, yawning and sipping on some coffee. He wasn't convinced he was fully awake yet and was half dozing off again when his cell phone began to loudly vibrate on the glass coffee table.

He rubbed his face and yawned again before answering. "Stokes," was his automatic response.

"Hi, Nick," Sara greeted on the other end of the phone.

"Oh, hey," he suddenly perked up. "I was just thinking about you."

"Oh really? Nothing dirty I hope," Sara teased.

"As if I would tell you if it were," Nick countered, enjoying their usual flirtatiousness. "What's up? Missing me already?"

"It's nothing important. I just wanted to update you on the case. Brass has just finished booking the prep. It was the sister," Sara explained.

"Really?" Nick seemed shocked. "Well, I didn't see that coming. I mean, she definitely seemed suspicious but I guessed she must have just been sleeping with her brother-in-law."

"She was. There's a bit more to it but in a nutshell that's why she killed her sister. It's crazy but true, though nothing surprises me anymore," Sara replied. "And of course I'm missing you, I can't function without you."

"I knew it," Nick announced triumphantly, and Sara laughed in response.

"How's Texas?" she asked.

"Still here, right where I left it," Nick joked.

"Well, you go and enjoy it then. I've gotta go and finish my paperwork so I can go home. You probably won't hear from me again till you get back, unless of course the lab falls apart because you're not here," Sara stated, somehow sounding sincere.

"So I'm gonna be hoping that the lab falls apart then just so I can hear your voice," Nick insisted sweetly. It was obvious to Sara even down the phone that he was grinning.

"Have fun, Nick," she replied, ignoring his comments.

"I'll try. Have fun with you're paperwork," Nick teased playfully.

"Don't gloat," Sara insisted. "It's very unflattering."

"Speak soon."

Sara said her own goodbyes before hanging up. Nick put his phone back down on the coffee table, smiling uncontrollably. She had no idea what she did to him or what effect simply a phone conversation had on him. She made him feel like a teenager again, with some massive crush on a girl from school. But it was so much more than just a crush. It hadn't been a crush in such a long time. It had been his own fault really, he could have acted on things sooner but chose not to, chose not to be left heartbroken by her if she would have rejected him. Instead he had admired her from afar and for so long that had been enough, it had been enough to just be her friend and be near her. But just lately he wasn't sure how much more of it he could take.

"Who was that, sweetie?" Gillian wondered as she walked into the living room.

"Huh?" Nick shuck his head back into reality.

"Who was that on the phone you were just speaking to?" she rephrased her question.

"Oh, it was just Sara from the lab. She was just updating me on a case we were working before I left," Nick explained.

Gillian nodded in understanding. "So do you have any plans for today?"

"Why do I have the feeling you've already made them for me?"

"Angie, Jackie and Em are coming over for lunch with their families and they would all like to see you as much as they can before you go back to Vegas," Gillian explained, continuing on regardless. "It's going to probably be chaotic but I thought you would want to know about it anyway."

"I think I can put up with them for a few hours," Nick insisted, almost smirking. "Besides, where else am I going to be?"

Nick ended up just staying inside the house, pottering around whilst he waited for his parents to come home from work. It reminded him of his teenage years; and that wasn't the first time he'd thought back to 'the good ol, days'. Though he did enjoy the reminiscing, he soon got bored of rattling around inside the big house so decided to go for a walk and enjoy the wonderful Texas scenery. He had reluctantly grown to love Las Vegas over time but no where could ever compare to the wonderful place he grew up. Afterwards, he returned home to spend time with his lovely nieces and nephews. They were probably the strongest thing pulling him back to Dallas every few months, though he would always tell his mother it was her.

"Hiya, Uncle Nicky," Erin smiled widely. She was the youngest child, aged eleven, of Jackie

"Hey, gorgeous," Nick exclaimed, opening his arms wide in anticipation of a hug. "How's my favourite niece?"

Erin ran up to him and gave him a huge bear hug. She mumbled into his shoulder, "You say all your nieces are your favourites."

"But I only mean it when I say it to you," he grinned.

Erin giggled. "Will you come outside with me?"

"Of course I will," Nick agreed and followed her into the back garden.

They stepped outside into the large garden. Erin quickly stopped in her tracks, before running back inside and yelling something over her shoulder that was barely audible. Nick smiled to himself as she disappeared, noting how much taller and grown up she seemed now. He gazed round the garden before spotting Charlie, Erin's elder brother, sitting on the patio chairs. Talk about grown up... Nick could remember not so long ago a young man, almost six feet tall, incredibly lanky, often acting as though his arms and legs didn't even belong to him, totally socially awkward. Now here he was, all grown up, filled out properly, and thankfully he'd grown into his limbs, and ears.

"Hey, Chuck," Nick teased, as he walked over to him.

The only response he received was a audible grunt of disapproval.

"Oh, I see. You just go by Charlie now, huh?" Nick tried to joke as he sat down beside him but his nephew clearly wasn't in the mood.

"Whatever," he grumbled downwards, like a typical teenager, speaking more into his cell phone that he was busy tapping away at than to his uncle.

"What's up?"

"Nothing...," he rolled his eyes, still looking down.

"Let me guess... girl trouble?" Nick guessed, only moderately sympathetic but he was trying his best to be the caring uncle that he was supposed to be.

"Yeah," Charlie relented and shrugged, feeling embarrassed. He eventually put his phone down.

Nick let out a long sigh upon hearing his nephews' answer. "Been there..."

"Helpful..," Charlie looked up at Nick just to glare at him.

"Don't come to me for help. My love life is non-existent right now," he stated nonchalantly.

"Well, jeez, Uncle Nicky, thanks for all your help," Charlie said sarcastically.

"You want my advice?" Nick raised an eyebrow as he shifted in his seat so he was facing his nephew better, already feeling the bitter emotions boiling up inside him "I strongly suggest you stay far away from woman altogether. They are too much hassle and cause too much heartache. And they're complicated. Trust me, man, you're better off staying single."

"Wow, someone sounds a tad bit bitter and twisted..."

"I'm speaking from experience. I've decided that I'm done with woman," Nick maintained.

"Can I have that in writing?" Charlie smirked, obviously not convinced.

"I'm serious. I'm done with all of it," he insisted.

"Sounds to me like you're having some girl trouble of your own...," Charlie commented, almost smiling.

"It's completely different to your girl trouble," Nick insisted.

"How? Woman are all the same. They're all complicated."

"That's true. And trust me, Charlie, it doesn't get any easier as you grow up. In fact, I'm certain things get worse," Nick explained, looking deflated.

"Wow, thanks, now I feel so much better," Charlie stated sarcastically.

"That's why it's just easier being on your own. I have to move on. I have to stop thinking about her altogether," Nick insisted, unsure if he was speaking to himself or his nephew.

"I know as well as you do that that is easier said than done. You're still thinking about her now," Charlie raised an eyebrow.

"What do you know? You're what, twelve?" Nick gave his nephew a look.

"I'm eighteen," he corrected dryly.

"Whatever. Life gets a whole lot more complicated when you finish puberty," Nick quipped.

"God, not you too," Erin sulked, rolling her eyes as she came towards them.

Nick looked over at her, obviously confused.

"Charlie is always like this," she explained. "He's always mopping around. Mum says it's because of a girl."

"Shut it, squirt," Charlie exclaimed, rather too defensively.

"I'm not mopping, am I?" Nick asked thoughtfully.

"You are a little bit, and I heard Nana say you've been doing it a lot," Erin insisted. "I don't like it."

"He's got girl problems too," Charlie smirked.

"Really? Is she pretty?" Erin asked, her eyes bright.

"Very pretty," Nick answered, images of a certain someone floating into his head.

"So what's the problem then?" Erin questioned, showing her innocence.

Nick smiled, loving how simple children always managed to make everything. "Nothing. I'll sort everything out when I get back to Vegas. Don't you worry about that. But I shouldn't be thinking about Vegas when I'm here with my favourite niece and nephew..."

He was interrupt by Charlie scoffing in disbelief. "We're all your favourites," he muttered.

"But I'm here, and I should be enjoying my time off," Nick continued. "Vegas can wait."

After dinner Nick ventured outside onto the patio. He paced around a bit as he thought. Had he really spent so much time mopping about, dwelling on things? It would appear so. That had never been his intention. But he blamed it on being away from his everyday life, knowing that he wasn't going to have to investigate a murder for a week. Also, Nick was able to think things through a lot more clearly when he was outside of Vegas. It was a relief in a way. You'd think so anyway. However, he couldn't get his mind off someone very special to him, no matter how hard he tried. Normally, that didn't bother him too much, in fact he enjoyed thinking over the many reasons he liked her, finding new ones every time he spent time with her. Yet, this was different. His feelings had been slowly increasing for a while, making him doubt himself in almost every way. Nick had been mulling over his options for some years but now he felt he was at a crossroads and had to make a choice. He'd tried to squash his feelings for a long time with no success.

("Who are you trying to kid, Nick?" he asked himself aloud. "You've got it bad.")

They say that admitting something is the first step to accepting it. In order to accept that you have a problem you must first admit it. So here he was, admitting it to himself that he was in love with her. When feelings are as strong as they were in this instance Nick knew deep down - for as hard as it was to come to terms with what it meant - he couldn't keep it to himself forever. And for as much as he knew giving up on his feelings for Sara would be so much easier in the long run and a lot less painful, he also knew that no matter how hard he tried he couldn't give them up, and he wouldn't.

Moments later Bill silently stepped out onto the patio. It had taken him a short while to find Nick but when he eventually set eyes on his son again, Nick was sitting on one of the outdoor chairs daydreaming and staring aimlessly off into space. It was then that Bill decided that the softly softly approach wasn't going to cut it this time.

"Okay, I've had enough of this," Bill stated as he plopped himself down on a seat next to his youngest son. "Start talking."

"Huh?" Nick raised an eyebrow, not paying attention as he was caught up in his own thoughts.

"You've been here two days now and you've have had that exact same expression on your face ever since; you look like you've been smacked across the face with a wet fish," Bill explained.

"I haven't," Nick pouted like a small child.

"You have, and it's annoying me now," Bill rolled his eyes. "Is it work? Is a case bothering you?"

"It's sorta work related... I guess...," Nick shrugged, avoiding the subject.

"Nicky," Bill gave his son a pointed stare.

Nick let out a small sigh. "Do you remember me ever talking about a friend from work, named Sara?" he started.

Bill nodded. "I think I have a slight recollection. But what do she have to do with this?"

"Think about it, dad," Nick raised an eyebrow, giving his dad a knowing look.

"Oh... You and Sara...," Bill assumed.

"No, there is no me and Sara," Nick insisted.

"But you want there to be?"

"I think so... maybe," Nick shrugged, with an almost childlike expression on his face. "I don't know."

"What do you know?" Bill asked.

"I know I like her, a lot," Nick stated, gulping with the nervousness of saying it out loud for the first time.

"How long have you felt this way?" Bill wondered.

"I don't know... not long. A few months maybe," Nick shrugged, looking sheepish.

"Really?" Bill raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? I'm not sure which one of us you're lying to, yourself or me."

"Fine. I can't exactly pinpoint the date but it's been a while. In all honestly it's probably been years," Nick admitted, glancing down towards the floor. "But the last few months it's gotten worse. I can't stop thinking about her and I find myself looking for her around the lab. And that's just the start of it."

"So what are you going to do about it?" Bill asked, sounding positive and enthusiastic.

"I don't know. I have no idea yet," Nick chuckled lightly, rubbing his face with his hands. "This is just pathetic. I'm pathetic."

"No you're not, you're human," Bill insisted.

"Why is everything so complicated?" Nick exclaimed.

"It isn't. It's you that's over-complicating it," Bill reasoned.

"I'm not meaning to, but I'm... I'm no good at this, apparently. I don't know what to do for the best," Nick tried to explain.

"Just go for it, Nick. It worked for your mother and I. We met at work and look at us now," Bill offered.

"This is different, dad. Sara's different. She's... she's amazing. She's beautiful. She's kind, caring, intelligent, funny, thoughtful, considerate. She's just... amazing. There's nothing more to say," Nick sighed, blushing slightly as his feeling poured out of him.

"So let me get this straight. You're saying you have strong feelings for this girl, Sara?" Bill raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," Nick nodded.

"So why have your mother and I never met her?" Bill gave him a look that said 'you know where I'm going with this.'

"Well... because... well, she doesn't know... know that I like her...," Nick stuttered, not looking his dad in the eye.

"For goodness sake, Nicky," his father exclaimed. "You're acting as though she's just broken your heart into a thousand pieces, told you she never wanted to see you ever again and said the thought of loving you physically repulsed her."

"Thanks, dad," Nick smirked, giving him a bemused look.

"How can you possibly expect Sara to know how you feel if you've never told her?" Bill questioned rhetorically. "I mean I'm sure she's a highly intelligent woman but I doubt very much that she is the first person to master the art of mind reading."

"There's no need to be smart…," Nick huffed.

"You need to tell her how you feel. What have you got to lose?" questioned Bill. "You won't know until you confront her with how you feel, and you never know she might like you too."

"No, if I say anything now I'll ruin everything. We've been friends for too long. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself or live with myself if that happened," Nick insisted defensively.

"But would you be able to live with yourself if you don't?"

Nick stuttered for a moment, opening and closing his mouth like a drowning fish. "It's... It's really not that simple," he finally said.

"Sounds simple enough to me," his father shrugged. "You like her, Nick, face facts. Now that you accept how you feel you should tell her, you never know, she might just feel the same way. The shock might kill you but it's a possibility, isn't it?"

"Possibly," Nick gulped.

"Why not? Why wouldn't she like you back?" Bill questioned rhetorically. "You're a handsome man, you get that from me, of course..."

"And you're modesty too, right?" Nick smirked.

"My humour," Bill corrected his son. "My intelligence, my stubbornness, my easy going nature."

"So now that we've finished establishing all your best qualities...," Nick gave him a look.

"My point is that Sara would be crazy not to feel the same way you do," Bill explained.

"Well, unfortunately neither you nor I, or anyone else for the matter, have a say on it," Nick insisted. "And I wouldn't want to force her."

"I think you need to have a bit of faith in yourself," Bill maintained.

Nick shook his head. "I'm not her type."

"How do you know that? Have you asked her?" he questioned.

"Funnily enough it's never come up in conversation before," Nick stated sarcastically.

"See, so I'm right, you don't know," Bill exclaimed. "So there's a chance you might be wrong."

Nick let out a sigh, gazing down at the floor. "I don't know..."

"There's doubt there. And with doubt comes hope," Bill insisted. "What is it you want, Nicky? Do you want a chance to be with her? If that's the case then you're going to have to make the first move. You're the only one who's going to."

"But what if she knocks me back?" Nick wondered, sounding almost pitiful.

"Well, then you take it on the chin and you move on," Bill insisted.

"I don't know if I can...," Nick trailed off.

"Nick, sometimes in life we have to make tough choices and do things that maybe we don't really want to do. But these things have to be done in order for us achieve our goals and aspirations. You have feelings for Sara, that's clear, but now you need to know how she feels about you. You can't keep hiding from this. If you want to be with her you need to tell her how you feel," Bill insisted.

Nick leaned back slightly and let his fathers' words sink in. There was definitely a great deal of truth in what he was saying, though it was hard for Nick to admit it. He actually found it quite amusing how he couldn't tell Sara how he felt, knowing deep down that it meant she was different and meant so much more to him. That was why he couldn't risk losing her as a friend. He'd always convinced himself that if he could only ever have her in his life as a friend then that was enough, and better than not having her in his life at all. But he found it incredibly hard to deal with his feelings when she was always there, just being her amazing self. Enough was enough. He'd hidden these feelings for far too long now, and for whatever reason they had started to grow stronger with everyday making them even more hard to ignore. Nick couldn't just sit back anymore, he had to act.

Thank you for reading. Please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

A/N: Firstly, I would like to explain what happened with the last chapter. It was totally my fault, I posted the wrong chapter! But it's all sorted now. And to answer a reviewers' question this is set several years ago, as will be made clear right now. So here's the third chapter.

Chapter 3

The following five days went by with ease. Not much more was said between Nick and his father as Bill went off to bed leaving Nick to process his thoughts further. Afterwards, many people commented on how much happier and relaxed he seemed. Nick felt it too, felt as though a weight had been lifted off of him once he'd finally gotten everything off his chest, finally told someone what was going on inside him. Admittedly it wasn't the right person he should have told, but it was a start. Something had been bothering him though. When had he become so indecisive? Nick was never normally the indecisive type, having always been able to make a decision at the drop of a hat. But nothing about his current situation was normal. He had to tell Sara he had feelings for her, it was the rational thing to do. But just thinking it made his palms go all sweaty and his heart rate reach a dangerously high level. He had a lot riding on this. Sara was one of his closest friends and he would never forgive himself if he ruined everything they had. But it was his fathers words that kept replaying themselves in his head. Maybe she did like him too and maybe they'd end up together, have a couple of kids and live out in the country, the whole shebang. Yeah, he was going to tell her. Nick would find the right moment, sit her down and tell her, pour his heart and soul out to her and beg and pray that in doing so he won't have just wrecked their friendship. That's what he would do.

"Has the week really come to an end? It seems as though you've only been here a couple of days," Gillian sounded dejected.

"I'm sorry, mum," Nick smiled sympathetically. "But I've gotta get back to work. I can't leave them a man down. I won't leave it as long till I come back again, I promise."

"You'd better not," Gillian insisted, somewhat sternly. "Now come here and give your mother a hug."

Nick did as he was instructed, but their hug was cut short as the phone began to ring.

"I'll get it," Gillian stated as she left the room, looking longingly back at her youngest son.

Once she had left, Bill gave Nick a curious look. "Have you thought about what I said the other night?" he asked.

"Yes," Nick nodded.

"And...?"

"I've given it some thought," Nick shrugged, frowning almost.

"That's it?" Bill raised his eyebrows.

"What is it you want me to say, dad? I've thought about it. In fact, I'm still thinking about it. I'll figure it out," he continued.

"Nicky, you and I both know what you have to do here," Bill pressed.

"I'm working on it," Nick admitted.

"Well, I can stand here and convince you that you should tell Sara how you feel till I'm blue in the face and it probably won't make any difference. You have to want it, Nick. But I think you'll know what you want to do the next time you set eyes on her," Bill offered what he hoped were encouraging words.

"I've got it all figured out, dad."

"Sorry," Gillian announced as she entered the room again. "That's was just your brother calling to say he's not going to have a chance to say goodbye before you leave because he's caught up at work."

"It's fine," Nick shrugged. "I'll call him later."

"Now are you sure you've gotten everything?"

"Yes, mum, I'm sure. But it's not as though I'm never coming again, is it?" Nick said sarcastically, looking amused at his mothers behaviour.

"You'd better not leave it as long next time. Six months is a long time to not see your family," she insisted.

"I've already said I won't," Nick smiled at her persistence.

On the drive back to Las Vegas, Nick pondered over his week with his family. He hadn't been himself from the moment he first arrived, everyone had seen that. That definitely hadn't been one of his best moments. But in his own defence it was bizarre being away from work, more specifically Sara, and it made him realise how much he really cared for her and truly how strong his feelings were. When he'd arrived at his parents' home he let his guard down in a way, the guard he was holding up to protect himself from rejection from Sara, and let his rather negative thoughts surface at will. He wasn't pleased about it but it happened. He was finally able to think clearly about her for a change without the distraction of work or without her walking in on him daydreaming about her. He had the chance to finally take some time away from it all, take a step back from everything and realise what was truly important to him. But after his father had given him some tough love, Nick was able to enjoy his time off after finally accepting how he felt for Sara and realising that it wasn't such a bad thing.

It was her deep, dark eyes that he loved the most. They were the very first thing he had noticed about her when they first met. They could pierce his soul with just one look. And that scared him. Never had he felt so exposed before, never had a woman had such a strong effect on him. That was how he knew for certain that Sara was special. She was so different to other woman, in a good way. She was head strong, yet somewhat submissive; bold yet reversed; confident yet quiet. She had a serious side, as do most people, but she could let her hair down now and then. Sara knew what to say and when, well, most of the time. She did often let her heart rule her head and quite a few times her fellow colleagues had had to intervene before she said or did something worse, but Nick loved her even more for it. Her heart was always in the right place. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind when necessary but knew when she should keep her mouth shut. She was beautiful and intelligent. She was perfect, in every way, despite her protests that she had many flaws. But to Nick she was perfect, flaws and all. He wondered why he'd never come to this conclusion so many years ago. He'd always felt something for her but for whatever reason those feelings had practically exploded just recently. Their relationship had blossomed over the years into this very special friendship that he dreaded destroying. That was probably the biggest thing holding him back from just confronting her with everything he felt. Having said that he cared a great deal for Sara, he loved her in fact, and he wanted more than anything for her to feel the same way about him.

However, in truth he was still somewhat puzzled with what to do for the best. Would it be selfish of him to declare his feelings to her and potentially ruin their friendship that they had built up over so many years? His mind was constantly jumping between what his father had said to him and what he had said to his nephew, Charlie. Should he just give up? On Sara? On everything? Nick was stuck in a rut. Maybe he should just take some time out for a while, some more time out, maybe meet other people and try to get over Sara. But did he want that? He had so many questions constantly surfacing it was hard to stay focused. He was so confused. In one breath he told himself all the reasons he liked Sara as much as he did, and in the other he was reminding himself why he hadn't said anything sooner. He knew what he wanted to do but the thought made his stomach churn, bringing even more doubt into his mind. Nick reasoned with himself that he had to know what she would say if he were to ask her out. Even if he did decide to go out and meet other people, and then meets this woman who is even more incredible than Sara - though he doubted that was at all possible - they get married and have three kids, deep down he would always wonder what Sara's answer would have been or whether she'd ever had feelings for him. It was a massive risk, he knew that, but what is life without taking a few risks?

"Hey, Nick," Sara sounded surprised to see him. "When did you get back?"

"A couple of hours ago," he replied.

Sara stepped closer to him and gave him a small hug.

"Wow, if this is the reception I'm always going to get I'm gonna go away more often," Nick grinned when she pulled away.

"What are you doing here? Shift doesn't start for another two hours," she continued, seemingly ignoring what he'd just said.

"I could ask you the same thing," he countered, teasing like he'd never been away.

"I'd come in early to help out Henry. Some of the DNA in the case Cath was working on somehow contaminated Grissom's evidence so Henry has been having a nightmare trying to redo all the tests and keep on top of everything," Sara explained, somehow feeling she should justify herself. "He's worked a double shift and is only just beginning to catch up. I'm not sure he's going to be sleeping for a good few hours yet."

"Why couldn't Greg help him?" Nick questioned, puzzled.

Sara shrugged. "That's what I said. But Grissom couldn't spare him, apparently. I think they've just about wrapped up their case now, anyway."

"So the lab functioned perfectly fine without me?" he smirked.

Sara nodded. "Just about. Aside from Henry's slight meltdown everything has run smoothly."

"Glad to hear it."

"Did you have a good time in Dallas?" she wondered.

"Yeah, I did, thanks. It was the same as always really," Nick shrugged.

"But I bet it was nice to be away for awhile?"

"It was. Nice to be awake during the day for a change and not just because we're working a double shift," he smiled. "It was good. Love seeing my nieces and nephews most of all. Though they make me feel quite old."

Sara smiled. "Well, I'm glad you had a good time. But things are about to get a whole lot better. Why? Because you and I have a 419 outside Henderson."

"I'll meet you outside in five."

As soon as they arrived at the scene Nick quickly jumped out his car and went straight to the passenger's side to open the door for Sara.

She smiled shyly at him. "You didn't have to do that you know?"

"I know. But I wanted to," he winked.

Sara let out a slow sigh as she got out the car and moved past him, only allowing herself to stare down at the floor.

Nick chuckled to himself as he slammed the door shut. He soon caught up with Sara and they walked in stride as they approached Captain Brass.

"Bet you're glad to be back, Nick," Brass said sarcastically.

"Oh, I don't know...," Nick paused, giving Sara a look. "It has it's advantages."

"Someone inside is waiting for you," Brass gestured towards the house.

"David here already?" Sara assumed.

"No. Day shift," Brass replied. "Possible link to some murders they've had. Ecklie wanted someone here to assist."

Nick sighed, rolling his eyes at the thought of someone else interfering with their case.

Sara shrugged. "Well, if it means we solve the case quicker then it can't be a bad thing."

"I would love to stay and chat but I have to go and interrogate some witnesses," Brass insisted. "I mean, question some witnesses."

Both Nick and Sara smiled as Brass walked off. They proceeded to make their way inside the well kept home, Nick allowing Sara to go in ahead of him.

"Hey," the man greeted from the living room.

"Hi," Sara sounded confused.

"Caleb Knight," he announced. "But you can call me Cal."

"Can I now?" Sara pursed her lips.

"Yeah. It's nice and simple, easy to remember," he smiled.

"That would surely insinuate that I would want to remember it," Sara insisted playfully.

"Why wouldn't you want to?" Cal raised an eyebrow, feigning innocence.

"Think highly of yourself then?"

"Someone has to," his smile grew wide.

Nick cleared his throat to interrupt.

Sara blushed. "Um... Sara Sidle. Nick Stokes. Graveyard shift."

"Ah, yes. I've heard a lot about you graveyard guys," Cal teased.

"Well, not to blow our own trumpets but everything you've heard is true," Sara smirked. "We are as good as people say."

"We'll see about that."

"What have we got?" Nick asked, trying to focus on the task at hand.

"The vic's in the kitchen," Cal stated, guiding them through to the adjoining room.

Nick and Sara both stood in the doorway, surveying the scene in front of them.

Cal chose to bring them up to speed. "Her name's Patricia Whyte. She's 86. And judging by the level of decomp she's been dead for a few days."

"Who found her?" Sara asked, moving round the body to begin photographing the scene.

"Her granddaughter," Cal replied. "She comes round every Friday to shop for groceries."

Nick bent down above the old woman's body. "She's been stabbed, what, ten times?"

"At least," Sara agreed. "Explains all this blood."

"So far none of the neighbours heard anything," Cal added. "Some said they hadn't seen her for her all week but that wasn't unusual, she liked to keep herself to herself."

"So, Brass mentioned there's been some other cases like this...," Sara pressed, snapping pictures of the arterial blood splatter covering the walls.

"Unfortunately, yes," Cal nodded. "This is the fourth in as many weeks. Vulnerable old ladies have been targeted by a man in his late thirties; that's the best description we have of him. He's robbing them of their family heirlooms and then stabbing them to death."

"How come this one has turned up on our patch?" Sara raised an eyebrow.

"The other three were found by family members within hours. One was found just two hours later by a concerned neighbour who'd seen someone suspicious hanging around," Cal explained. "But this one is different. They've all been different. We haven't found much that links them together at all. They have completely different social circles. This guy is an opportunist. And he's escalating."

"It's a good thing we're here to help then," Sara teased.

Nick rolled his eyes and set about working the scene whilst they waited for David to arrive.

"Sorry I'm late," David stumbled through the door ten minutes later. "Four car pile up on the freeway."

"No hurry, she's not going anywhere," Sara insisted, looking sadly down on the victim.

"Any idea on how long she's been dead?" Cal wondered.

"In case none of you had worked it out yet she's been dead for at least three days," Dave stated. "But we'll know more after the autopsy."

"You should really put that slogan on a mug, Dave," Nick commented.

"Not sure how well Doc Robbins would take that."

Nick just shrugged as he, Sara and Cal continued to work around David as he prepared the body to be taken back to the morgue.

"You know, this'll probably be me one day," Sara insisted solemnly, hovering over the body as David went to work.

"What, a pretty little thing like you?" Cal smiled sweetly.

Sara pursed her lips to prevent a smile of her own overtaking her face.

"Hey, Sar, come check this out," Nick interjected.

Sara walked up behind Nick, leaning over his shoulder. "What've you found?"

"Shoeprints. I'm thinking maybe a men's ten or eleven," Nick replied. "Maybe work boots."

Sara nodded. "Sounds about right."

"They lead this way...," Nick pointed through the doorway.

They briefly shared a look before Nick started working backwards in the direction that the muddy shoeprints originated from, with Sara closely on his heels.

"They end here," Nick stopped once outside the house, noticing how the footprints were quickly fading as the assailant walked through the home owners wet lawn.

"Well, seen as the prints are only going in this direction we can assume that he left the same way he came in," Sara thought aloud.

"Was there sign of forced entry round the front?"

"No," she answered.

"Doesn't seem to be here either," Nick looked thoughtful.

"Maybe if the shoe impressions are work boots then that's how the guy gained entry," Sara continued. "If all the woman had needed work doing to their houses then that's how this guy could have got them to trust him and let him in the door."

"I'll check it out," Nick stated.

They briefly shared a smile, revelling in their new theory.

"Have you printed the door yet, Sara?" Cal called out from inside the house.

Sara headed back inside just as David was removing the body from the house.

"Did you print the door?" Cal asked again, coming towards her.

"I tried. Nothing but smudges," she replied.

"Same back here," Nick announced, stepping back inside.

Cal let out a frustrated sigh as he turned around to survey the scene.

"This is really getting to you, isn't it?" Sara raised an eyebrow in question.

"I was raised to respect my elders, not murder them," he retorted dryly.

"Do you know what I'm thinking?" Sara asked rhetorically. "I'm thinking that maybe the other murders have been test runs for this one."

"It's possible," Cal shrugged. "Definitely something we should look into."

"Maybe if this attack was more brutal compared with the other three then maybe Patricia Whyte was the intended target all along," she added.

"Good thinking. So you're not just a pretty face after all?"

Nick simply rolled his eyes in despair. Was she really being put under his spell so easily?

Thank you for reading. Please review.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

A/N: Thank you for my reviews. I love getting them so be sure to leave another after reading this. I'm really enjoying writing this and reading reviews only helps me write more.

Chapter 4

When they returned to the crime lab about an hour later, they agreed to divide and conquer. Nick headed straight for Mandy to hand over the few fingerprints they had managed to find inside the house, whilst Cal and Sara went to see Doc Robbins in the morgue. When Nick had agreed to splitting up in the hopes of getting the best results he'd hoped that he would have been spending some time with Sara, the person he had been assigned to work the case with. It had initially bothered him but he liked to consider himself a professional so tried to push all thoughts of Sara and the other guy to the back of his mind. They were all on the same team and all wanted the same thing so nothing else should have mattered.

A short while later they regrouped to discuss any theories and leads they had come up with. As it turned out they had found a very strong lead. Running with Sara's idea that the latest victim had been the intended target Cal had struck lucky. The victims' grandson had been in and out of prison from a young age and had gang affiliations. Cal put two and two together and figured they should talk to him.

"Brass is tracking him down as we speak," Cal stated.

Just then Warrick poked his head round the door. "Um... sorry... sorry to interrupt but Nick, can you spare an hour or so?"

Nick raised his eyebrows in surprise, looking at him incredulously. What a time interrupt. "Uh... sorry, man, but we're kinda busy here..."

"No, Nick, if you're needed you should go," Cal insisted. "I'm sure Sara and I have it covered."

"Yeah, go on. We'll call you if we find out anything," Sara encouraged.

Nick grit his teeth. "Uh... yeah, sure. I'll give you a hand."

He could feel his blood practically start to boil inside him. Who did this guy think he was telling him what to do? But Nick took a deep breath and somehow managed to smile politely before following Warrick out the room.

They met up with Greg in the layout room across the hall, Nick still trying to diffuse his anger.

"Right, so, basically we've hit a dead end," Greg began explaining. "And we needed some fresh eyes on this. Grissom is heading to a meeting and Catherine, well, I think she's chasing up some leads on her case, at least I think that's what she yelled at me down the phone. They're obviously busy so then we thought of you..."

"Jee, thanks," Nick mocked enthusiasm as he narrowed his eyes at him.

Before Greg could say anything else Warrick stepped in. "So we were thinking that with your help we can maybe get somewhere, starting by re-examining the evidence."

Nick simply shrugged before reluctantly pulling on some latex gloves.

He knew he should have been focusing on the evidence that lay in front of him but that was so hard to do when all he was thinking about was Sara. Every so often he'd lift his head up to see her. The third time he did a scowl unconsciously took over his face. Right in front of him, in the middle of the entire lab and in front of the whole staff, Sara and Cal were flirting. Nick suddenly felt himself become very defensive and protective of Sara as he stared across the hall, completely neglecting his work. He had taken an instant disliking to this guy, Cal, from the moment he introduced himself. There was just something about him that didn't sit right with Nick. And he liked to think of himself as a fairly good judge of character.

Who did he think he was trampling all over him and his feelings, and the case too. Nick had been assigned to work the case with Sara, it was supposed to just be the two of them until this hot shot showed up. Sure the day shift had had some similar incidences but their shift had ended hours ago and it was time for the graveyard shift to take over, the proper scientists to take charge. The graveyard shift wasn't for the fainthearted; you had to have a tough stomach and thick skin to survive convicting the worst the city had to offer. And then this cocky piece of work shows up, doomed to fail at what proper CSIs do. Nick had never really liked other people invading his work but this guy was in a class of his own. And to make things even worse, he was all over Sara like a rash. Who does that? Who comes to help solve a crime and instead spends his whole time flirting like his life depends on it? Because of this guy Nick almost wished he hadn't come back to work yet. He scowled upon seeing Sara start to giggle, presumingly at something Cal had said that was obviously so hilariously funny. Nobody is ever that funny.

_I saw her first_, he thought. _And now that douchebag is coming over here and stealing my thunder… nuh uh, not gonna happen.  
><em>  
>Cal hadn't seen the way Sara would look at Nick. He could try his best, use all his foolproof pick up lines, but nothing would work on Sara. At least, Nick hoped not.<p>

He had started to over-think things, read into everything she did. He often saw more there than actually existed, his mind often taking over and seeing things that just weren't there. Sara would smile at him, for example, and it was probably an innocent friendly smile to everyone else but to Nick it was a smile that said 'I like you too' or 'let's see where this goes' and his heart rate would hit the roof. Sure, it didn't happen all the time but it happened often enough to confuse him. Was he even imagining it? Was she actually looking at him affectionately? Or was it him just wishful thinking? He hated to admit it but it was properly the latter.

To Nick, it was obvious. He'd done everything but say it out loud, which was evidently the issue. His feelings were simple and clear. He liked Sara, a lot. And that wasn't about to change anytime soon. Hell, it hadn't since the day he first met her so why was it about to change now? It had almost become a part of him, his affection for her, and he wouldn't have changed that for anything. But were his feelings obvious to Sara? That was what mattered most of all. He had practically confessed his love for her on many occasions without ever saying a word. It was always in a look - a sideways glance when she was buried underneath a mountain of work, perhaps a subtle look back as he left for home - or in something he'd say, a polite comment or a simple gesture. It was really that simple. Yet did Sara ever notice? Just once, did she ever wonder if she was imagining things or did she ever get butterflies in her stomach when she spoke to him? But Nick didn't know if he wanted her to be aware of his feelings yet, if at all. He didn't know much of anything at that moment in time. Just when he would make up his mind another negative thought would cast doubt over everything and he'd be right back where he started.

But what if she actually felt the same way for him? What then? What did that mean for them?

Just then Sara looked up and caught his gaze. Nick tried his best to act natural and a huge smile took over her face. He smiled back as his heart practically melted inside his chest.

"You're staring again," Greg announced.

"I am not," Nick replied, too quickly and too defensively for Greg's liking whilst trying to find a spot of the wall to focus on.

"You don't even realise you're doing it, do you?" Warrick asked, already knowing the answer.

"You know, Nick, if I didn't know any better I would say you were jealous," Greg insisted, looking downwards to hide his obvious smile.

"Good thing you know better then, huh?"

"No, I don't think I do. I think you are jealous," Greg continued.

"Well, I think you're wrong," Nick countered.

"You couldn't be more jealous if you tried," added Warrick.

"Who asked you?" Nick exclaimed.

"Just admit it. You're jealous of him. You wish you had her all to yourself," Greg teased.

"Stop it, Greg," Nick insisted sternly.

"Don't worry, you're secret is safe with us. We know what's going on with you," Greg beamed with self-confidence.

"You do?" Nick gulped.

"Yeah," Greg insisted, making it sound as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I've known all along."

Warrick gave him a look.

"Okay, well, Warrick told me and then I knew. But it's been a while since then," he defended himself.

"We know the truth so don't even start denying it," Warrick insisted, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. We know you like her," Greg teased, waggling his eyebrows.

"I don't...," Nick tried to argue, in shock as to how or why they were having this conversation.

"Nick, you can't stop yourself from smiling every time someone even so much as says her name," Greg raised an eyebrow.

"I can so...," he insisted half-heartedly, rather similar to a small child.

"Sara," Greg announced, already smirking.

As predicted seconds later Nick's face lit up with his famous thousand watt smile and he continued to smile uncontrollably for the next few moments.

"Told you so," Greg teased.

"It's not just that, Greg, have you seen his face whenever she walks into a room? It's priceless," Warrick added. "She makes him go all mushy inside."

"Would you two stop it?" Nick snapped, blushing because he knew they were right.

"Aw, Greggo, I think Nicky's in denial," Warrick smirked.

"I am not," Nick insisted. "I know what I want I just..."

"Don't know how to tell her?" Warrick guessed, casting a sincere smile in his direction.

"Yeah, maybe...," Nick shrugged, lowering his head.

"Or are you just chicken?" Greg wondered, mischief in his eyes.

"What? You don't know what you're talking about...," Nick started.

"Sure I do. You have the hots for Sara but you're too scared to tell her," Greg replied, seeming very pleased with himself.

"That's not true," Nick shook his head.

"Which part?" Greg smirked.

"I'm not scared to tell her," Nick continued. "I just... I just don't know how to. How am I suppose to tell her that after all these years I've felt differently about her?"

"Seems like you did pretty well just then," Warrick answered.

"But that was to you guys, you don't count. Neither of you are Sara. You know the truth, she won't," he insisted, letting out a frustrated sigh.

"What? Why?" exclaimed Greg.

"Nick, you can't do this. You have to tell her," Warrick added.

"And ruin everything? I can't. She'll hate me," Nick sounded utterly dejected.

"She could never hate you," Warrick shook his head. "You just need to be honest with her and tell her how you really feel."

Nick was fighting and losing battle, both with himself and his friends. But he had every reason to be defensive about his feelings. It was different talking to Warrick and Greg about this sensitive subject; saying it out loud in front of them made it all the more real, which scared Nick even more. His dad was an outsider of sorts, and while he was obviously biased towards his son he could still be objective. Warrick and Greg could not.

"You are chicken, aren't you?" Greg smirked. "That's why you won't say anything, because you're scared."

"Well, yeah, I'm scared that she'll say no. Why else do you think I don't wanna say anything?" Nick questioned sarcastically.

"That's an excuse and you know it," Greg insisted. "It's just a matter of time before some lucky bugger comes along and snatches her up and then you'll be sorry. I for one have better things to do with my time than be your shoulder to cry on when she's with someone else."

"Come on, man. You know I hate to say it but Greg's right," Warrick jumped in. "We all know you'll regret it if you don't tell her the truth. If this was any other woman..."

"That's the point, Rick," Nick interrupted. "This isn't any other woman. This is Sara. And if I say anything she could turn me down, which of course she has a right to but it could ruin everything. It could make working together awkward and that's just not fair."

"Nick, she wouldn't turn you down," Warrick insisted, rolling his eyes as if it were the most obvious thing in the whole entire world. "There's been something there between you two for years now. One of you just has to make the first move."

"I'm just waiting for the right time, actually," Nick maintained.

"Somehow I don't believe you," Warrick raised an eyebrow.

"We are not having this conversation," Nick argued and tried to leave the room but Greg stopped him.

"Just admit it, Nick. You wouldn't ask her out if your life depended on it."

"Well, it doesn't so I'm not going to," Nick gave him a look. "Can we stop talking about this now?"

"I bet you a hundred bucks that you won't have told Sara about your feelings by this time next week," Greg announced, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What? Are you crazy? I'm not betting with you over this," Nick insisted.

"So are you admitting that you're too scared to ask her out? Is this you're way of giving up?" Greg raised a questioning eyebrow. "I never would have penned you as a quitter."

"No one's quitting anything," Nick stated, glaring at Greg. "A hundred bucks?"

"That's right," he nodded, a smile tugging at his lips. "And you have to tell Sara that you're madly in love with her within a week else I win. Seems a fair deal to me."

"Nick, come on, man. You're not seriously thinking about betting on this are you? How old are you two? We're not in high school anymore. You can't do this, you can't treat Sara like this," Warrick interjected.

"Like what? We're not doing her any harm. What she doesn't know won't hurt her, right?" Greg shrugged off his comments before addressing Nick again. "So what do you say lover boy, are you in?"

"I'm in."

Almost as he replied Nick's pager bleeped. It was Sara wanting to inform him on a potential new line of enquiry. Nick took the opportunity to leave the room.

"I'll catch up with you later so we can work this out," he insisted before he left.

Instantly Warrick's glaring eyes descended on Greg.

"What? Don't look at me like that," Greg frowned.

"Look at you like what?" Warrick shrugged, feigning innocence. "Like you're stupid?"

"What...?"

"Don't what me, Greg, you know what. What the hell do think you were doing betting with him over Sara?" Warrick asked, scowling.

"Relax, man. Everything will work out in the end," Greg maintained, looking pleased with himself.

"How exactly did you work that one out, genius?" Warrick continued to glare at him, not at all impressed with his antics.

"See, it's all part of my master plan," Greg grinned triumphantly. "I've got it all worked out. Operation-get-Nick-and-Sara-together-at-last."

"I want no part in this," Warrick insisted. "When this goes and backfires in your face, which it will, I just wanted to make that clear."

"Fine, but when I'm best man at their wedding...," he teased.

"Get a grip, Greg. It's going to take a lot more than some stupid bet to get them two together."

The end of shift couldn't have come soon enough for some of the night shift members. Though it wasn't really the end of their shift; it was closer to the end of the day shift by the time they could leave.

"Hello Miss Sidle," Greg looked up from his locker.

"Hi, Greg," Sara smiled weakly, trying to contain a yawn.

"Ready to go home?" Greg asked, already knowing the answer.

"More than ready."

A sudden thought came to Greg's mind and he spoke up before Sara had the chance to walk away. "Guess who I just saw walking out of here and looking dead on his feet? Cal."

"And?" Sara asked.

"And... I was wondering how your case had gone?" Greg asked, acting casual. "You know, professional curiosity."

"Yeah, right," she replied dryly, rolling her eyes. "But in case you are interested we solved it. The old woman was killed by her grandson who was addicted to painkillers, her painkillers, and she caught him stealing so threatened to go to the police to hopefully straighten him out once and for all but he killed her. So it had nothing to do with the other murders after all."

"Nice work," Greg commented. "But I bet you didn't mind working with Cal anyway."

"No, I suppose not," Sara admitted. "He's a professional. And hard working, and he's very good at what he does."

"Full of praise for him... he must be good," Greg smirked. "So do you think you'll see him again?"

"I doubt it. Why would I? We work different shifts," she answered honestly.

"What about after work?" Greg continued to smirk.

"What are you getting at, Greg?" she narrowed her eyes at him slightly.

"Just you two seemed to be getting on rather well...," he left his comments hanging in the air.

Sara cleared her throat slightly. "I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Sure you do, Sara," Greg insisted playfully. "You and Cal were flirting like it was going out of fashion."

"What's your point? It was just innocent flirting," Sara protested. "I was being friendly. And I gave as good as I got. It was nothing."

"Did he see it that way?"

"Of course he did," Sara exclaimed. "It was just banter. Everyone likes to feel special every now and then, you know."

"So is that the same for you and Nick?" Greg wondered, finding a way to direct the conversation.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Greg," Sara stated, ignoring his question but failing to stop herself from smirking as she exited the room.

Thank you for reading. Things are going to get interesting in the next chapter. Please review.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

A/N: This chapter is quite long, in fact it's very long. I've never really been able to write anything short. But hopefully you'll bear with it and understand that it needed to be this long. Sit back and enjoy, things are going to get good.

Chapter 5

As most of their evenings started, the majority of the team were patiently waiting the arrival of their supervisor in the break room. They were almost as good at waiting for him as they were at solving the cases he assigned them too. The previous three days had passed relatively quickly, perhaps due to the usual busyness around the lab; the busyness that they expected again that night.

Nick was keeping himself occupied by reading over the sports section of the newspaper, whilst Greg flicked through some old magazine that had been floating around the break room for a few weeks. Catherine had the bulk of the newspaper after handing the sports section over to Nick and Warrick and Sara amused themselves with the coffee machine.

"Anyone for coffee?" Warrick asked, letting out a slow breath.

"You just gave me this one two minutes ago," Catherine stated, gesturing towards her near-full mug, trying her best not to smile at him.

"Anyone else then?" he glanced at Nick and Greg.

"Nah, thanks. I've already had one," Nick politely declined.

"That's not like you to turn down coffee," commented Sara.

"I'm trying to cut down," he replied.

"I see. I tried cutting down once...," she trailed off as she took a sip from her mug.

"How did that work out for you?" Nick smiled sweetly.

Sara merely pursed her lips before turning to Warrick. "So, read any good books lately?"

"I'd ask you the same thing but I didn't think you read anything besides forensics journals," Warrick teased.

Greg had poked his head over his magazine and witnessed Nick and Sara's short exchange of words, and smiled knowingly to himself. So when Warrick and Sara were deep in conversation about nothing particularly important, Greg took the opportunity to grab Nick's attention.

"Hey, Nick," Greg whispered, gesturing for his friend to come closer.

Nick raised an unamused eyebrow as he stood up and began walking towards him. "What?" he asked, dryly.

"The clock's ticking," Greg simply replied, smiling slyly.

Nick's eyes widened in shock as he hastily sat down on the sofa beside him and pulled Greg closer towards him. "Would you keep your voice down," he insisted quietly, looking round the room and making sure Sara was still beside the coffee maker with Warrick.

"She won't hear me," Greg whispered.

"Well, shut up anyway," Nick insisted through gritted teeth.

"Okay, fine, I'll leave it," Greg put his hands up defensively. "I was just reminding you."

"Sorry I'm late. I just got a call from Brass. A double 419 in Boulder City," Grissom explained as he walked through the doorway, glancing over his glasses at his colleagues. "Cath, Nick, Sara - get there as soon as you can, this is the priority right now."

"You got it boss," Nick stated, quickly standing up, glad to have a reason to move away from Greg.

"And you two are with me," Grissom added, looking over at his remaining team members. "A suspected murder-suicide in North Las Vegas."

"Yay," Greg cheered sarcastically.

Catherine, Nick and Sara arrived at a house in Boulder City, immediately stepping inside into the main living area of the home. It was a pretty ordinary house in an equally as ordinary street but what lay inside the house was anything but a common everyday occurrence. Though in reality murder was becoming ever more frequent in Las Vegas.

"The second vic is upstairs," Brass stated from outside the house.

Catherine nodded as she and her fellow colleagues approached the doorway. "You two head upstairs and I'll stay here with David?"

Nick cast a look at Sara before replying, "Sounds good to me."

"Been here long, David?" Catherine asked the coroners assistant as she set her CSI kit down on the floor and began working.

Neither Nick nor Sara heard David's reply as they made their way upstairs.

"Where do you want to start?" Nick asked as he placed his CSI kit down and surveyed the scene in front of him. "Do you want the body or the rest of the room?"

"I'll take the body," replied Sara as she crouched down so that she was hovering over the body.

Nick went straight towards the bed in the corner of the room.

"Female, Caucasian... cause of death... gunshot wound to the lower back...," Sara thought aloud as she inspected the woman's dead body, glancing around the area for any trace of the killer. "Her clothes seem intact so no initial sign of sexual trauma."

"You can go ahead and check her pockets for ID," David announced from the door.

"No need," Nick spoke up, holding up a red purse from the dresser. "Her name is Madison Fisher. Twenty two."

"Any ID on the woman downstairs?" Sara asked.

David shook his head. "Catherine's looking next door."

David proceeded to check the liver temperature of the victim. "I'd say she's been dead about six hours, same as her friend downstairs."

"Her name is Rachel McDermott," Catherine stated as she appeared in the doorway. "She has a student ID for Western LVU."

"Maybe they're both students there," Sara added.

"I'll check it out when we get back," Catherine agreed. "Find anything useful yet?"

"Not really," Nick shrugged. "I mean there's a few prints over by the window but I don't think they're going to belong to our killer. The way she fell and the fact that she was shot in the back suggests to me that she was running away from her killer."

"Maybe she came home and witnessed her friend being killed, then tried to run away but the killer caught up with her," Sara added.

Catherine nodded thoughtfully, as her cell phone bleeped. "Interesting... One of the prints I found has come back to an Adam Pritchard; in fact many of the prints are a match to him. He was charged with a few minor drug misdemeanours in his teenage years. I'm thinking boyfriend."

"Jealous boyfriend kills his girlfriend but her best friend comes home early so has to die too," Sara stated, straightening herself up. "Nothing we've not seen before."

"I'm going to go and finish up downstairs. We'll meet back at the lab in a few hours?" Catherine suggested.

"Yep," Nick nodded. "We'll see you later."

Catherine quickly disappeared downstairs, leaving Nick and Sara to continue processing their scene. Nick continued to search for evidence in the rest of the room for a while longer but changed tactics and headed out into the hallway in the hopes of finding some actual useable evidence. There was very little on the woman's body itself, though Sara collected GSR samples and took a DNA swab from the woman's left hand.

"Ready to move her?" Nick looked up.

"Yeah," David replied.

Nick rose to his feet to help the assistant coroner. He paused momentarily and looked down over their victims body.

"You know, this'll probably sound stupid, but is it just me or does that blood pool sort of look like a slice of pizza?" he thought aloud, tilting his head as he inspected the blood pool more intensely.

"You know, it kinda does," David agreed, tilting his head also.

"Are you ever not thinking about food?" Sara gave Nick a look as she raised her eyebrows.

"Only the times when I'm thinking about you," he replied sweetly, without missing a beat.

Sara shook her head as the two man began to move the body of Madison Fisher outside to the coroners van. When Nick returned Sara was looking perplexed as she assessed the room.

"Not much to go on here, is there?" she spoke up upon hearing him approach.

"Well, I found another couple of prints," Nick stated. "Maybe we'll get lucky."

"I'll swap you. You take my GSR sample and I'll take your prints. We'll see which one of us has found the most useful evidence," Sara announced.

A few hours later Nick and Sara returned to the lab. They had stayed on and processed the whole house, checking it from top to bottom for any signs of their killer. Catherine had focused her attention on the living room and the perimeter of the house. She'd returned to the lab when she received a call from Brass telling her they'd found Adam Pritchard's car parked a block away from the house. Nick and Sara returned shortly after, both satisfied that if they hadn't found any evidence of their killer in the house by that point then they weren't ever going to find it. A couple more hours passed as Nick and Sara set about processing the evidence.

"Sara," Greg looked up from the computer screen. "What can I do for you?"

"I've got a print for you," she replied, handing over a tape lift.

"So I'll run it then, huh?" Greg guessed.

"Please and thank you," Sara smiled politely.

"So I'll just drop everything I'm doing to help you?"

"It'll take you five minutes, Greg," Sara insisted. "You're running prints from your case anyway so what's the big deal?"

"And I've got enough from my own case to be dealing with," Greg gave her a look.

"Are you going to help me out or not?"

"It's on the bottom of my list," he relented, letting out a slight sigh as he focused on the computer screen in front of him once again.

"Thank you," Sara smiled widely.

She stepped out the room and began walking down the hallway.

"Hey, I've been looking for you," Nick stated as he emerged out one of the labs and walked along side her.

"Well, you've found me," Sara pursed her lips.

"Catherine is still working on the car but Brass just came through with the warrant for Adam Pritchard's townhouse," Nick explained. "You wanna come?"

"You bet I do.

Nick forcefully knocked on the door when they arrived. There was no answer, so Brass gave the go ahead for two officers to break down the door. Brass followed the officers inside the house, checking every room for their suspect. Once they could be sure the house was empty Nick and Sara were allowed full access.

Sara began to search for any evidence from their original crime scene, specifically any traces of blood. But from her first assessment the small house looked clean.

"I'll be in the kitchen," Sara stated as she walked out the room.

Nick moved round the living room, dusting for prints and swabbing for blood as he went. He hovered in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room, glancing over at Sara as she worked. She was in her own little world as she dusted for prints on the counter top. She noticed as she moved along that there was a medium sized box at the end of the counter, something she'd been oblivious to until then. Coming to the conclusion that she needed to move it in order to continue her search for fingerprints, Sara carefully placed her hands either side of the mystery box and lifted it up.

"Oh no...," Sara gulped upon hearing that universal sound of that ever common clicking noise, similar to that of the ticking of a clock, signifying to everyone within earshot that she'd picked up a potentially hazardous item.

Nick looked up and instantly knew what was going on. He let out a slow breath and straightened up. "Stay calm, Sara. Stay calm."

Sara nodded slowly, her blood pressure and stress levels rising.

"Everyone out!" Nick yelled. "Everyone out! There's a bomb!"

Nick began to walk towards Sara, much to her dismay. "Nick, no... you can't..."

"I'm staying with you," he insisted, giving her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

"No, you can't. Please go," she begged.

He shook his head. "I'm staying right here," he placed his hands on top of hers, helping her to support the box.

"What the hell happened?" Brass exclaimed as he burst into the room.

"I picked up a bomb," Sara explained, with a straight face.

"I figured as much," he insisted dryly. "Back up is on it's way. Bomb squad should be here in about four minutes."

"Right, okay," Sara cleared her throat, twitching her fingers. "Four minutes... that's... that's quick."

"Go, Jim, go outside," Nick insisted.

"I'll stay till bomb squad gets here," Brass countered.

"Don't be stupid," Nick said firmly, casting a weary eye on Sara. "We don't know if this has a timer or not. We don't know how long it'll have even if it does have a timer. This could go off at any minute."

"That's really helpful, Nick," Sara gulped down the lump raising in her throat, clearly shaken by the situation. "Really, really helpful."

Nick looked at her with concern and sympathy, not sure what to say.

Sara took a deep breath before looking over at Brass, avoiding Nick's eyes altogether. "Wait outside, Brass."

"I'm staying...," Brass started.

"Go, Jim!" Sara snapped. "Don't argue with me, just go. Wait outside, please."

Brass looked momentarily stunned but he slowly began to nod. "I'll... I'll be right outside if you need me."

Nick smiled politely at him as he left. He looked over at Sara again. She looked as though she was about to throw up, not that he blamed her. He tried his best to give her hands a gentle squeeze without moving too much.

"Okay, you've made your point now, you can leave too," Sara insisted, speaking up.

"I'm not going anywhere," Nick argued. "I'm staying right here."

"For God's sake, Nick," Sara exclaimed. "Have you got a death wish? Because that could happen, you know. We could die."

"I know that," Nick nodded, speaking softly. "And that's why I can't go. If you triggered a motion sensor when you picked up this box if I let go, or if either of us let go, then we could set this thing off and we'll die anyway. But, if I stay here and if we try and stay calm and have an intelligent conversation about the weather or something then bomb squad will be here and hopefully in an hour or so we can be walking out of those doors in one piece. How does that sound?"

Sara gulped, sighing anxiously. "Okay... that sounds okay. I guess I'm just freaking out a little bit."

"You just have to try and stay calm," he insisted.

"Okay... Stay calm...," Sara let out a staggered breath.

"We'll be out of here before you know it," Nick tried his best to settle her nerves.

"I'm sorry. This isn't exactly easy for you either," Sara tried to smile. "But why didn't you leave when you had the chance?"

"And leave you here by yourself?" Nick countered. "What kind of friend would that make me? We're partners, I couldn't leave you."

They briefly shared a small apprehensive smile before the door opened. In walked a tall man wrapped in layers upon layers of protective clothing.

"I'm Chris. I'm going to be your bomb disposal expert for today," he announced.

"Man, are we glad to see you...," Nick exclaimed.

"Nick Stokes. Sara Sidle," he pointed at them individually. "Correct?"

"Correct," Sara nodded. "So if you could get a move on..."

"What, you mean this isn't your usual day in the office?" Chris asked rhetorically.

"You could say that," Sara gulped.

"The detective outside explained the situation to me a bit but if I could hear it in your own words that'd be great," stated Chris.

"Okay... Um, I was dusting for prints, tried to move this box out of the way, it made a clicking noise when I picked it up and I've been standing here ever since," Sara explained, twitching her fingers.

Chris moved around Nick and Sara to get a better look at the box from all angles. "A motion sensor, right? Not surprising. Seems like a decent size box. Doesn't look too big. But if there's industrial strength explosives in there then there'll probably be enough to explode half this street."

Nick and Sara's eyes quickly met in shock.

"But don't worry, you're in safe hands. This should be pretty straight forward," Chris insisted. "I'm just going to go outside and get something from my kit. I'll be right back."

"It's fine...," Nick would have shrugged if he could've moved.

"Don't go anywhere," Chris quipped as he reached the door.

"Oh, a comedian as well...," Sara scoffed, breathing deeply.

Chris came back in shortly after with a small X-ray device.

"I just need to check the contents of the box," he explained. "I need to have an idea of what we're dealing with."

Nick and Sara both nodded in understanding.

"This should just take a sec...," Chris stated.

"Take all the time you need," Sara insisted.

"So I take it neither of you will be picking up any mysterious boxes again anytime soon," Chris commented as he waited for the imagines to come through onto his small monitor.

"You can say that again," Nick scoffed.

"I'm not picking anything else up at a crime scene ever again unless I'm using a pair of tweezers or a tape lift," Sara added.

"Good. I mean this in the nicest possible way but I never want to see either of you again," Chris stated.

"Right back at you," Nick smiled anxiously.

Christ straightened himself up. "So there's a decent amount of C4 packed in there, not much of a surprise really. But this should still be fairly straight forward."

"That's the best news I've heard all day," Sara sighed.

"Let's get started," Chris nodded.

"Wait. Could you take my cell phone out of my pocket and take a few photos of the label?" Nick asked. "It's the closest we're going to get to evidence."

"You'll get whatever's left of it afterwards but sure," Chris agreed, fishing Nick's cell phone out of one of the many pockets on his CSI vest. "Just the label?"

"All of it, really," Sara admitted. "But mostly the label and anything distinctive on the box that might help us identify who sent it."

"Do you two ever stop thinking about work?" Chris smirked. He did what was asked of him and when he was about to put the phone back it began to ring. "It's Greg Sanders. Want to speak?"

"Sure," Nick nodded. "They probably know what's going on by now."

Chris placed the phone down on the counter top beside them. "I'll give you a few minutes. I'm going to let my team know we're just about ready," he pressed the green call button followed by the speakerphone button before walking out.

"Greg?" Nick asked.

"Yeah. Hey," he replied nervously. "Brass called to let us know what's happening. Bomb squad are with you now, right? What happened?"

"We don't exactly have time to chat right now," Nick insisted sarcastically.

"Guess not... Are you both okay?" Greg asked, speaking without thinking.

"Oh, you know, just perfectly fine," Nick insisted sarcastically. "We just hold onto bombs every Thursday. It's going to become our new thing."

"Yeah, but look on the bright side, at least you're there with Sara...," Greg teased gently, trying to make light of the situation.

"What are you...?" Nick wondered, almost dreading the answer as he started to blush.

"Come on, Nick, you can't tell me you're not enjoying spending some quality time with the woman you love?"

Nick's face turned bright red with embarrassment and maybe a hint of shock as Greg spoke. He didn't even dare to look Sara in the eye.

"Nick? You still there?" Greg's voice pierced the silence.

Nick took a deep breath. "Greg... you're on speaker phone," he stated simply.

Silence followed on the other end of the phone.

Sara was stunned, well and truly flabbergasted. She stared intently down at the hardwood floor.

"Hi... Greg...," she eventually found her words, speaking up after what felt like an eternity of silence.

That was the nail in the coffin.

"I've gotta go," Greg hurried. "I'll speak to you later."

Silence ensued once again. Sara still couldn't quite get her head round what had been said. Had he really said that? Did it mean what she thought it meant? What on earth had just happened? She wasn't usually one for enticing drama but it was coming at her from all angles. Her mind was racing a million miles per minute, and then Nick found his voice.

"Is it a bad time to tell you I've had a huge crush on you for years?" Nick asked almost rhetorically, his voice soft, his eyes sincere. "Well, at least that's how it started, as a crush, but it's a lot more than that now."

Sara forced herself to look at him, in complete and utter disbelief. Was he being serious?

"Okay, time to get this show on the road," Chris announced as he came back through the door. "Ready?"

"Definitely," Sara nodded instantly.

"Okay, Nick, slowly start to move your hands backwards," Chris explained. "But only once I tell you."

"You got it, chief," he replied.

"Sara, I need you to stay as still as you possibly can, just for another couple of minutes. You need to keep you hands steady and stable until I tell you otherwise, okay?" Chris stated authoritatively.

"I won't be moving a muscle."

"Good. So we can start," Chris turned towards Nick. "Okay, now slowly start moving your hands in towards yourself. And by slow I mean your-granny-walking-up-the-stairs-slow. No sudden movements."

Nick did as he was told, moving ever so slightly until finally only the tips of his fingers were left on the box.

"Good. Now completely take your hands away, but slowly remember, and then take three steps backwards," Chris instructed.

Once Nick had taken his three steps back he dropped his aching arms and sighed with relief.

Sara suddenly became very anxious and her hands shook gently.

"Sara, stay still please. Stay as still as you can for me," Chris looked her in the eye as he spoke. "This is nearly over, okay?"

"Breathe, Sara," Nick added, his brow furrowed with concern.

Sara let out a deep sigh. "What do I have to do?"

"Not much. Stay still and this should be over in less than a minute," Chris stated. "I need you to tilt your fingers upwards for me so I can slide my hands under yours."

Sara did so.

"Okay, now all you have to do is exactly what Nick did. You need to slowly pull your hands in towards your body and you're home and dry. But remember, do it as slowly as you can."

Sara's breath caught in her throat as her fingers lost contact with the edge of the box.

"See, nice and easy," Chris smiled. "Now take your three steps back and you're outta here."

Sara let her arms drop as Nick had done when she stepped back her allocated amount of steps.

"Clear!" Chris bellowed.

In came several other members of the bomb squad, all wearing equally as padded clothing as Chris, all charging towards the explosive device ready to assist in it's safe detention.

Nick and Sara wasted no time in leaving the house. Sara sat herself down on the curb and let out a deep breath that she'd subconsciously been holding. She noticed her hands begin to visibly shake as an overwhelming sense of nausea took over her. It was everything she could do not to throw up. Lifting her head, she saw Nick speaking to Brass, noticing that he too looked worse for wear.

Thank you for reading. Posted this a week later than I hoped to due to some technical issues with my laptop but I hope it was worth it. Kinda made the stuff up about the bomb as I'm not an expert but I hope it seemed believable. Let me know in a review.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

A/N: This is another late one. Though it's not because of technical issues but because I've been ill and then I've been struggling to get motivated to get back into this. And I've spent practically the whole week trying to sort this out, and I'm still not convinced this is good. But it's quite long, so hopefully that'll make up for it. I just hope it's been worth the wait.

Chapter 6

They drove back to the crime lab in complete and utter silence. Nick was mentally beating himself up for handling things the way he did. Though in someway he was relieved by the silence; while Sara hadn't jumped for joy and announced she felt the same way for him she also hadn't broken his heart by saying she felt nothing. It was probably for the best at that moment in time. They reached the lab as the sun was raising, just peeking over the buildings in the distance. It was quite beautiful actually, and thankfully provided a brief distraction from the intense and almost suffocating atmosphere.

"Oh thank God," Catherine exclaimed as Nick and Sara walked through the door just over an hour after nearly blowing up.

"You two had us seriously worried," Warrick added, leaping to his feet.

"We're fine," Sara forced a smile.

"Are you sure?" Catherine raised an eyebrow as she walked towards them, not completely convinced by what they were saying.

"Positive," Nick nodded. "We just want to get on with the case."

"At least come and sit down for a minute," Catherine suggested. "We'll make you some tea with lots of sugar; it's good for shock."

A few minutes later both Nick and Sara were sitting side by side on the sofa in the break room sipping on their cups of tea with Catherine and Warrick watching them intently, studying every tiny move they made. Sara merely sat with her head hanging low, focusing on the feet of her colleagues that stood in front of her, whilst Nick nervously caressed his mug of tea and mindlessly gazing round the room. Awkward didn't even come close to how Nick or Sara felt at that precise moment.

"Nick, Sara - my office, now," Grissom demanded as he appeared in the doorway.

Nick let out a sigh as he stood up to place his mug down on the table. He glanced back at Sara as she followed in his footsteps and they silently left towards Grissom's office.

Sara gently tapped on the partially open door and it's only occupant waved them in.

"Are you two okay?" Grissom began as his colleagues sat down in front of him. "Were you checked over by paramedics?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Nick insisted, trying to smile. "Just a bit shaken, that's all."

Sara nodded. "Yeah, it's not every day something like this happens." Her statement had a double meaning.

"Will you be okay to continue working?" their supervisor raised an eyebrow. "Now please be honest, no one will think any less of either you if you need to have a couple of days off, or at least a few hours rest before you get back to work."

"Well, I can only speak for myself but I want to get straight back onto this," Nick replied. "I want to find this guy."

Sara took a deep breath and agreed. "Me too. We need to finish this case. We owe it to the victims' families."

Grissom seemed reluctant to accept their answers. "Alright, if you insist. But if anything changes, please let me know."

"We'll be fine," Nick insisted, smiling politely.

After that Nick and Sara left Grissom's office and headed in separate directions.

Sara made her way to the ladies' room. She just stared at herself in the mirror for a few moments, trying to make some sense out of the things that had happened at that small house in Boulder City. It was supposed to be a simple scene. They were going to check the place out, look for any sign of a struggle or maybe even some blood, and they might have even found their main suspect in the process. That was what should have happened. They shouldn't have ended up holding a bomb and praying for it not to go off, and she was sure that she probably shouldn't have ended up finding out Nick had feelings for her either, not at that precise moment. What a strange turn of events. She still couldn't comprehend what had gone on. So Nick liked her, like in a more than friends kinda way? How was that possible? Since when? Why? How? She frowned at herself in the mirror, puzzled and confused. Sara turned the cold tap on and lightly splashed her face. Letting out a slow, agonising breath, she closed her eyes and leaned against the cold tiles as she pulled out some paper towels to dry her hands and face. This was going to be a very long morning.

Meanwhile, Nick was on the warpath.

"Where's Greg?" Nick snapped at Hodges.

"Hello, Nick, it's nice to see you too," he looked back at him with a blank expression on his face.

"Hodges, I'm really not in the mood for you or any of your crap," Nick insisted angrily. "Do you know where Greg is or not?"

"I think he's just gone to the ballistics lab...," Hodges trailed off as Nick disappeared. "Oh... Well, you're very welcome."

Nick scowled at Greg the moment he set eyes on him. "What have you got to say for yourself?"

"I'm sorry?" Greg scrunched his face slightly, seemingly guessing at what he could or should say that would make up for his little slip of the tongue.

"That's a start," Nick stated sternly. "What the hell do you think you were doing saying something like that over the phone?"

"I'm so sorry. But how was I suppose to know that it was on speakerphone?" Greg asked.

"I was holding a bomb whilst speaking to you; how else were we having a conversation?"

"Yeah, okay, fine. But I didn't think about that earlier," Greg insisted defensively.

Nick nodded in agreement, rubbing his forehead whilst sighing. "Of course you didn't. I know that. I know you never meant to say anything. I'm not meaning to take it out on you it's just...," he trailed off, unable to find the right words.

"I really am sorry," Greg insisted sincerely.

Nick let out a sigh, forcing himself to forgive his younger colleague. "It's fine. It doesn't matter. What's done is done. Forget about it."

"On the plus side, you won the bet...," shrugged Greg as he plastered on a wonky smile.

"I don't really care about that anymore," Nick gave him a look.

"Maybe not... But I can't believe I lost. I was so convinced you wouldn't say anything. I didn't think you had it in you," Greg stated teasingly, though he was sure Nick didn't pick up on that.

"Apparently I do," he replied, shrugging slightly from embarrassment.

"I suppose I should probably take credit for it really," Greg stated, smiling a little. "I started the ball rolling."

"You did. But because of what you said I admitted that I had feelings for her," Nick agreed, looking dejected.

"I'm sure everything will work out okay in time," Greg tried to sound positive.

"Even if she ever forgives me for just dropping it on her the way I did it doesn't mean everything will work out okay," Nick insisted rather solemnly.

"It's a matter of when she forgives you, not if," Greg corrected his friend.

Nick looked sceptical. "I think that's a big ask right now."

Just then Greg's cell phone bleeped. It was Sara. Whilst Nick had tracked down Greg, Sara had chased up some results from the evidence they'd collected from their scene several hours previously, after composing herself in the bathroom of course.

Greg reached for his cell phone and quickly scanned over the message. He looked up, puzzled. "It's Sara. She's talking about something to do with having some test results back. I think it's for you. She must have sent it to the wrong person by mistake."

Nick shook his head sadly. "No, I doubt it was a mistake."

He walked away before Greg could say anything else. He began searching for Sara in the different labs, poking his head through most of the doors looking for where she might have been hiding. He stopped by the locker room and briefly entered the break room but he still hadn't found her. He knew she was most likely avoiding him, which he could understand to a degree, but their case was far more important than anything else happening in their lives at that moment in time. Whilst their issues could often feel huge and maybe even too big to handle they were nothing compared to the grief of losing someone you loved. Nick considered the days events to be quite large on the scale of major issues, scoring it a maximum of eight out of ten, and he was sure Sara would have rated it much the same. But that had to be forgotten and they had to work together in order to solve their case. That had to be their biggest priority.

As Nick began to saunter down the halls he smiled in spite of himself. What a bizarre evening it had turned into. He thought about what he'd said and the things he could have done differently. He was very annoyed at Greg for saying something so stupid over the phone without thinking first but he hadn't caused any real harm. And he hadn't meant to cause harm either. Whatever came of the situation it wouldn't be Greg's fault. In truth, if he could turn back the clock a few hours Nick wasn't sure he'd change a thing, besides the nearly dying part. He had finally found some Dutch courage, looked her in the eye and said the one thing he thought he never would. Perhaps it was because they were standing in a strangers kitchen and staring death in the face but maybe that was the best way to have done it. Nick never really had time to think about it or process what Greg had said over the phone before his brain was sending signals for his mouth to start talking. He hadn't panicked or freaked out over what her reaction was going to be; he'd just said it. Nick felt somewhat empowered by that. He had simply looked her in the eye and let his thoughts finally become actual sentences, an actual statement. He didn't regret it, not really, maybe the timing was a little off but some things had to be done in the moment.

Upon turning the corner his cell phone rang. He briefly spoke to Brass, who informed him that their closest thing to a suspect was being brought in for questioning. As he hung up, he spotted Sara sitting in the corner of the break room. Taking a deep breath he pushed open the door and made his way towards her.

"Hi," Nick smiled nervously. "I've been looking for you."

"Well, you've found me," Sara shrugged, glancing up at him briefly, barely acknowledging his presence.

"Adam Pritchard was pulled over half an hour ago. He's on his way here," Nick stated.

"That's great," she replied, pulling her lips into a tight smile. "Hopefully this case will finally be solved soon."

That was premature enthusiasm on Sara's part. You'd think she'd know better than to think that it would be so simple. She cursed herself for her naivety. She'd been doing her job long enough to realise nothing was ever simple when it came to murder. Sadly for them, their only key person of interest, Adam Pritchard, claimed to have an alibi. He told them he had been in a relationship with Rachel McDermott, the victim that was found in the living room, but insisted he was working at the time the murders took place. He claimed to love Rachel and was apparently planning on asking her to marry him. He told them all about the efforts he'd gone to win her round, saying he joined some green peace activist group just for her. Whilst the partners or spouses of murdered people are often the first port of call when it came to suspects, Sara just wasn't getting the same kind of vibe from this poor man. Adam had seemed genuinely devastated to learn Rachel had been killed and was desperate for them to find who'd killed her, instantly pointing the finger at someone who worked with Rachel at a restaurant in downtown Las Vegas. So they were practically right back where they started. Just great. Finding the answers they needed would be hard, not only for the fact that the case seemed to have more twists and turns than a twisty turny thing but Sara was still struggling to remain focused and composed when she was around Nick. There was a definite atmosphere hanging around them like a bad smell, an atmosphere she had most likely caused herself. They were awkwardly dancing around the whole thing, practically pretending that morning hadn't happened. She knew she should have just stopped thinking about Nick's sudden confession and concentrate on solving their current case but that was easier said than done.

"Wow, some guys have a strange way of trying to win a girls' affection," Nick commented absentmindedly as he and Sara walked through the hallway. She had seemed distracted so he tried to make small talk.

Sara let out a puff of air through her nose in obvious disgust and turned to address him. "Is that how you see woman, Nick? Are we just objects to be won in your eyes?"

Nick quickly shook his head. "No. That's not what I meant at all. I just mean that..."

"Is that what happened today? Did you hope to win my affection by swooping in and saving the day? And maybe if you were lucky I'd get to be your prize?" Sara's eyes narrowed.

"When did this become about today?" he questioned but it fell on deaf ears.

"I'm a person, Nick. A living, breathing human being with thoughts and feelings. I'm a woman, not an object. You can't just have me as and when you want me. It doesn't work that way anymore, times have changed," Sara announced sternly.

"I know. I'm not saying...," Nick stuttered.

"What you're saying is I should be pleased somehow that you want to be with me. Well, too bad, Nicky, because that ain't ever gonna happen. I don't need you. In fact I don't need any man for anything. I can and I will look after myself. And if you think differently then you really don't know me at all," Sara protested.

"Sara, wait, please...," Nick tried, shocked at her reaction.

"Save it for someone who cares," she snapped, and stropped off.

Nick looked around at the few lab techs who had heard the commotion and stopped whatever they were doing, finding a bust up in the corridor far more entertaining. Their conversation had escalated quickly, far too quickly. What was that all about? Well, maybe it was obvious what it was about but Nick was nonetheless stunned by her outburst. Not only had she pretty much clued some of their fellow colleagues into what was going on in their personal lives but she'd practically called him a sexist bigot. He considered himself many things but that certainly wasn't one of them. He could only hope that she was just reacting to what had taken place early that morning as apposed to voicing her actual opinion of him. He needed some fresh air.

An hour or so later Sara's pager bleeped again for the hundredth time that night - or at least it felt that way anyway - from inside the bathroom, Sara's preferred hiding place. She'd spent practically the past hour just pacing the tiled floor, seething with anger, both at herself and Nick. Why had she let herself explode like that? She'd let her highly charged emotions affect her judgement and she wasn't at all proud of herself. But inside the bathroom she was free to rant and rave about everything going on inside her head. Reluctantly, Sara lifted her pager and read the message before leaving in search of some evidence that would hopefully provide some answers to their case at long last.

"Thanks for this," Sara shot over her shoulder at Hodges.

Having just swiftly made her way past Nick in the break room, hoping she hadn't been seen by him, she concluded that she couldn't face being near him after her overreaction. She quickly looked around to see who was about before her eyes landed on Greg. She made her way towards him, trying to smile brightly. "Greg," she greeted.

"Sara," he echoed her greeting.

"Can I ask you to do me a quick favour?" Sara raised her eyebrows, biting her lower lip slightly. "Can you give these results to Nick for me?"

Greg looked thoughtful, and hesitant to answer.

"It's just that I'm needed... somewhere else..," she added, being rather vague.

This made up Greg's mind for him. "I can't, sorry. I'm just on my way to interrogation."

"Oh...," Sara seemed obviously put out by his decline.

"But you know, Sara, I've just seen Nick, he's in the break room. I'm sure you can spare a couple of minutes to drop your results off before you have to be somewhere else," he pointed out.

Sara forced a smile. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll do that. Catch up with you later?"

Greg nodded in response as he watched Sara walk down the hallway in the direction of the break room. He headed the opposite way, the way he'd been going before speaking to Sara but curiosity got the better of him and he turned around. He wasn't very surprised to see Sara talking to Catherine just outside the ballistics lab. He was too far way to hear what was being said but Greg could lip-read Catherine replying 'sure' when asked a question by Sara and she handed over the piece if paper she had in her hands. Three guesses as to what the question was. When Sara was out of sight Greg made a u-turn.

"Psst," Greg whispered loudly as he approached the older woman. "Psst, Cath."

"What are you playing at?" Catherine raised an unamused eyebrow as she looked up from the piece of paper Sara had handed her.

"Sara just asked you to give those results to Nick, right?" asked Greg, verifying what he already knew to be correct. "She's clearly avoiding him."

"Yeah. And? What's your point? Wouldn't you avoid him after everything that happened?" Catherine raised an eyebrow, clearly not impressed.

Greg stuttered over his words. "But..."

"Maybe you should just stay out of everyone else's lives and focus on your own for a change," she advised, maybe not as politely as she could have.

Sara couldn't have been more pleased that Catherine took the results off her hands and was willing to hand them over to Nick. At that moment in time it felt like the only rational thing to do. How could she face him after what she said? She couldn't. Things between them hadn't exactly been running smoothly since they got back to the lab earlier that morning and then she only went and made things worse by taking her frustrations out on him. Yes, she had every right to be frustrated, both with him and their case, but she couldn't just come out and say that, could she? No, of course not, she had to speak in riddles. In fairness she was quite good at delivering cryptic little messages and Nick was pretty good at decoding them - he'd had a lot of experience. Sara wasn't exactly going to make it easy for him, lay it on a plate for him, she was going to make him work for it. She wanted him to understand that what he'd said while they were both in mortal peril had really messed up her head and was really conflicting her thoughts, feelings and emotions. In short, she was thoroughly confused and bewildered. She was supposed to be smart, supposedly a scientist with all the answers, but to this she felt there was no right answer, none that she could come up with as she strode down the corridor. Why had he done this? Why did he have to mess with everything? Why couldn't he just leave things alone?

She finally arrived down in the morgue, having absentmindedly continued to walk until she was far enough away from prying eyes. She let out an involuntary sigh of relief. Pushing open the swinging doors, Sara stepped inside the main part of the morgue where all the magic happened and practically collapsed against the cold white wall next to the doorway.

"You're not very dead," Doc Robbins announced, startling Sara. "I don't wish you to be, of course, but we usually have dead people down here."

"Sorry... I'll go...," Sara went to move towards the door. She hadn't even seen him.

"No. Stay," he insisted. "I could use the company."

Sara smiled, somewhat embarrassed.

"Please, take a seat," he pointed towards some chairs near the door.

Sara smiled once again as she did as she was instructed.

"So I hear you have had a rather stressful day," Doc Robbins stated, with a hint of question and curiosity in his voice. He lowered himself down on to the chair beside her.

"You can say that again," Sara commented, nodding her head.

"You look as though you have the weight of the world on your shoulders," he added, looking concerned.

"That's why I came down here. It's quiet and I can think," Sara explained.

"That's quite alright, Sara. You don't have to explain yourself to me," he insisted. "You can stay here for as long as you wish."

"Are you sure?"

Doc Robbins nodded. "Take all the time you need, my dear. Take all the time you need."

Those were exactly the words she'd been subconsciously pleading someone would say to her, specifically Nick. Sara felt she needed to be told by someone that it was okay to not have all the answers about something for a change, to not have an instant right answer. She felt she needed to be told that it was okay to think about it and to not rush anything.

She jumped a little when her cell phone vibrated. It was Catherine texting her to arrange for both woman and Nick to meet up and collaborate their thoughts and ideas regarding their current murder case. Sara sighed, knowing it would mean she'd have to face, and very likely speak to, Nick, the one person she was trying to avoid more than anything. It was one of those things really. It had felt to Sara that just recently not a case had come through the lab doors that she and Nick hadn't solved together, and that hadn't been a bad thing until that morning.

She forced herself to stand, smiling politely at Doc Robbins as she pushed open the swing doors and stepped out into the corridor. A sobbing mother shuffled past her, reminding her how much she hated her job. Sure, she loved it too but there was also a lot of hate in her relationship with the crime lab. Sara loved solving puzzles but hated comforting distraught relatives who'd more often than not needlessly lost a loved one. She loved using her love for science to prove that someone was lying or at the very least not telling the whole truth. And she loved working with people who were just as intelligent as she was, who had the same mindset and the same desire for the truth. She loved working with Nick, she always had done. They were the dynamic duo of the graveyard shift. They fed off each other's strengths and weaknesses, bounced ideas around with ease, and quite often had the same thought process when it came to proving someone's guilt. Many had said they were the perfect match. But could that, or should that, ever apply to life outside of the crime lab walls?

Their brainstorming session was brief but highly productive. Whilst very little DNA and trace evidence had been found at the original crime scene, the gun used had been identified as a 9mm semiautomatic Beretta M9, a weapon commonly used by the United States Armed Forces. It was also quickly established that their only potential suspect, Adam Pritchard, had been in the bomb unit in the army and was discharged for dishonourable conduct, but the case was dealt a low blow when Catherine produced a list of everyone who'd purchased C4 online in the past six months and his name wasn't one of them. Their running theory that Adam had made the bomb and sent it to himself - though they were still working on the 'why' - then murdered his girlfriend and her housemate quickly went out the window. Nick had been adamant that Pritchard was guilty after discovering his so-called alibi was full of holes, but as Catherine pointed out, that didn't necessarily mean he was guilty of anything. Sara was inclined to agree, having looked the guy directly in the eye and witnessed his genuine heartbreak upon hearing the woman he loved was dead. She was the first to admit that she could be extremely cynical at times, but she really didn't believe that kind of devastation could be acted.

Just when the three occupants of the room were getting agitated and frustrated by the situation, and two were finding being in the same room as each other extremely awkward, the long awaited ballistics report came through. The tests revealed that the striations on the bullets came back to a weapon belonging to a man named Scott Davidson. Nick instantly recognised his picture; the man worked with Rachel, and Nick had spoken to him, noting how much he seemed to care for her. He quickly remembered that Davidson had called Rachel several times a day for a few months, but only then put the connection together. An hour or so late Nick spoke to Scott Davidson again and discovered that the man was very much in love with Rachel, more like infatuated with her - obsessed, besotted, etc, etc - but it was obvious that he could have come across as a creepy peeping Tom, even if that was never his intention. Nick soon found out that Davidson had been stalking Rachel, taking pictures of her wherever she went, learning her routine and habits, and sending her gifts and flowers. Adam Pritchard had been disgusted by this guys behaviour, as any boyfriend would, and went to give the guy a piece of his mind, telling him that under no uncertain terms would he go near Rachel again. But Scott retaliated with a bomb, constructed by an ex army friend of his, his way of telling Adam to back off, that there was no way on earth that was he in anyway good enough to be with Rachel. Meanwhile, Sara discovered that whilst the postal office didn't have any security cameras, a CCTV camera caught footage of Scott Davidson's SUV at the end of the street around the time the bomb was sent, further proof of his guilt. And to make matters worse for the man they found traces of blood on items of his clothing. On the night that Rachel was murdered, Scott went to confess his love for her, demand that were meant to be together, but he didn't take the rejection very well. Sadly Madison Fisher returned home just in time to hear the fatal shot that subsequently sighed her own death warrant.

Catherine smiled widely, pride brimming inside her for her fellow colleagues. "Well done boys and girls. I'm going to go arrest a killer."

Nick smiled back, equally as pleased at the result, as she left the room. But upon leaving, she left behind Nick and Sara and a horribly tense atmosphere. Nick opened his mouth to speak but before words could even form in his brain Sara jumped right in.

"I'm going home Nick, it's been a long day," Sara insisted, and tried to move past him. It really had been a horridly long day but a long, hot bubble bath was calling her name and her bed was beckoning her return. She wanted to forget about everything that had happened that day. And while she was glad that the case was finally over and that for a short while she had been able to pretend that everything was exactly the same as it had been twenty four hours earlier, but that was during work time; she couldn't keep up her act for longer than was extremely necessary. Now she just wanted to be at home away from everyone, away from him, to process the day's events.

"There's something I wanted to say to you first," Nick insisted, holding up his hands.

Sara sighed uncomfortably and stopped in her tracks.

Nick cleared his throat and mustered up the courage to break the silence. "I'm sorry for earlier...," he mumbled.

"No, I am. You deserve lots of things, Nick, and me having a go at you isn't one of them. So I'm sorry," she countered with a slight sigh, still not looking him in the eye.

"Yeah, but I'm sorry for how we got to that point."

Sara could only glance down at the titled floor, and fidget awkwardly.

"We could talk... If you want...," Nick shrugged, pleading with his eyes that if she was about to turn him down that she would do it gently.

"You need to give me a little time to get my head around this... everything...," Sara stated, rambling through nervousness.

Nick nodded, trying to hide his doubt and disappointment. It wasn't what he'd hoped to hear, but it wasn't what he'd dreaded hearing either.

Thank you for reading. Sorry this has taken me so long to post. I've had a nightmare with the ending of this. I'm not sure I'm completely happy with how I wrapped up the case but I'm not very good at that sort of stuff so just use your imagination, pretend it was good. More to come soon. Review please.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

A/N: This story is sort of turning into a very case-centric story, which was never really my intention but it happened anyway. And here's another one for our favourite crime solvers to get stuck into. But all will be made clear soon.

Chapter 7

"Where's the fire?" Greg asked rhetorically, appearing in the doorway somewhat flushed and out of breath.

"A twelve year old girl has gone missing," Grissom stated.

"Well, that's never good," Greg gulped, walking further into the room.

All the other members of the team had already arrived a few hours early as requested by their boss.

"We've been assigned this case as we can devote all our time to it," Grissom explained.

"Meet Anna Wilson. Last seen on her way home from school," Catherine began, handing out photos and information on their missing girl.

"So she's been missing... what... two hours?" Warrick questioned, checking his watch.

"Just over that, yes," Catherine nodded.

"Amber alert has already been issued. Every officer on duty has been sent a description of her. Bus and train stations have been notified just in case," Grissom added.

"Does she have a history of running away from home?" Nick spoke up.

"Not that we know of but we're covering all the bases," Catherine replied.

"So we're looking at a potential abduction?" Nick asked.

"It would seem the most obvious assumption," Catherine agreed. "Brass is already looking into known paedophiles and child abusers in the area."

"We all need to pitch in with this," Grissom stated. "Time is of the essence."

Sara cleared her throat. "All of us?" she raised an eyebrow, speaking before thinking before casting a nervous look in Nick's directed.

"Look, I get it, I get what's going on with you two but you can't keep letting it get in the way of work," Catherine insisted sternly, glancing between Nick and Sara. "We need to find this girl and to do that we all need to work together."

Sara looked down in shame, knowing her colleague was right. She was being ridiculous.

"There isn't a problem here, is there?" Grissom questioned, seemingly in the dark about the situation.

Sara cleared her throat, forcing a smile. "No, no problem here."

"Good, glad to hear it," Grissom stated, looking a bit puzzled but got back down to business. "I'll work out who is needed where when we get to the scene."

Nick was the first one to excuse himself from the room, heading straight for the locker room to grab his car keys and kit. In a matter of minutes he was sitting in the drivers seat of his car contemplating his recent life decisions. Part of him wanted to call up his father and give him what for for convincing him it was a good idea to reveal his true feelings for one of his closest friends. The other part wanted to call him up to thank him for being right yet again. Nick had told her how he felt, and that was supposedly the hard part. But he still had an aching feeling inside him that begged to know if she was even contemplating what he'd said, spent even a second mulling over what it meant. He needed to know what was going on inside her head, which was hard enough to figure out at the best of times. And if she felt nothing at all for him that even remotely resembled romantic feelings then he would preferably like to find out sooner rather than later; harsh reality is better than false hope. Yes, he wasn't expecting to have the happy ending that he wished for land on his lap overnight or for Sara to declare her undying feelings and that she too was madly in love with him, but he was expecting something more than the silent treatment. In fairness, he couldn't be mad at her because it was his own fault things had worked out the way they had but he vowed to fix them, to make it up to her however he could. He just wished that things weren't so awkward and strained between the two of them. His worse fears had to be come true

"Are we carpooling?" Warrick startled Nick as he appeared at the passenger side door.

"Huh, what?" Nick looked up. "Um... Yeah, sure. Get in."

Warrick chuckled at his response as he climbed into the car. Moments later Greg joined them, and they were on their way to the scene.

A week had passed since the 'bomb incident.' That's what Nick and Sara had taken to calling it, though aside from giving the event an actual name like Bob or Steve that was the most appropriate thing to call it. That evening, the night following the confession of Scott Davidson, they were granted a night off, a night to rest, recuperate and recharge their batteries. Grissom had instructed both Nick and Sara to have the following night off as well, or rather for them to consider themselves on call; they would only be called in if extremely necessary. Sara wasn't best pleased about having to sit on the sidelines for a night, but it was being forced to see the department shrink that really irritated her. It was mandatory for events like nearly dying because you ended up holding a bomb at a crime scene. She wasn't at all happy about it, and neither was Nick to be fair but they both knew - as they'd been subject to quite a few of these reviews over the years - that it had to be done in order for them to get back to work. It made sense, if either of them properly took the chance to think about it. What they did for a living was very important, as was their mental health. Everyone has a limit, and while you may not be showing any physical signs of emotional turmoil, that in fact you look perfectly fine on the outside, that doesn't mean that you're not near breaking point on the inside. Like a swan elegantly gliding along the lake, composed and calm, while it's feet are frantically paddling underneath. Thankfully, both Nick and Sara had passed with flying colours. They had both been told to return at anytime if they needed to speak about anything but aside from that they were perfectly fine to continue working. It had been a pretty stressful situation, facing imminent death but defying the odds, but things could have been a hell of a lot worse. And they knew all to well to thank their lucky stars that the odds had been well and truly in their favour.

Everyone had become brutally aware of what else had occurred during the 'bomb incident.' It wasn't unheard of for news to spread like the plague through the lab. Greg had been terrified to say anything in case he put his foot in it again, in case he said something else he shouldn't have. In the end he confided in Henry, fellow DNA expert and friend. Warrick had walked in on them talking and told them both to keep it to themselves. They had done but gossip had spread regardless. It was a natural thing really, for a department filled with people who were naturally interested and intrigued by things, curious and suspicious of people, to seek to investigate things, whether it be a murder investigation, a home invasion or the curious case of who ate Greg's turkey sandwich last week. In was something that was just inside of all of them, a niggling feeling inside telling them that there was always more than meets the eyes. Most of what had fuelled the gossip was due to the obvious tense and awkward atmosphere between Nick and Sara anyway, which even a blind person would have noticed.

Thankfully things had gradually been getting better. They were taking tiny baby steps to get back to how they used to be. Well, mainly how Sara used to be. Nick was trying his best to act natural around her, pretend like nothing had happened, but in reality he was only making things worse. He was so awkward around her, trying not to saying anything that she might take in the wrong way, trying not to offend her or upset her. He was walking on eggshells around her most of the time. But he'd listened to what she'd said and if she needed time then that was what Nick was going to give her; he'd give her all the time in the world if he thought it would help. It gave him hope. Maybe the outcome would be the same either way, maybe she was just letting him sweat for a bit before she broke his heart, but the possibility of her maybe not knowing yet how she felt or if, like he had so many times, she was weighing up the pros and cons, only just allowing herself to feel something for him now that she knew it wouldn't be and wasn't one sided, made the wait seem worthwhile. He would cling to that tiny thread of hope for as long as he needed to, or for as long as he could, which ever came first.

Grissom slammed the car door closed as he met his other team members in front of several patrol cars parked haphazardly in the middle of the road. Captain Brass came towards them, looking frustrated and stressed.

"Are you okay, Jim?" Catherine wondered, looking concerned.

"In a word - no," Brass replied, narrowing his eyes, each and every wrinkle and crease on his face surfacing. "A twelve year old girl has been abducted and time is running out if we're going to find her alive. The press is all over this like flies to, well... you know what. The Sheriff wants an update every ten minutes, and the Under Sheriff wants a press conference held within the hour."

"Is that all?" Catherine refrained herself from smirking

"Let us help, Jim," Warrick insisted, looking sympathetically at the man in front of him, looking as though he'd aged right in front of their very eyes.

"What can you tell us about what happened here?" Grissom asked

"Well, our missing girl, Anna, left school at her usual time of half past three, walked for about ten minutes with her best friend, something they do everyday, and then it would take roughly five minutes to get home but she didn't make it," Brass began explaining, trying to calm down. "It was round about here that a car was seen speeding away around the time of abduction."

"How can we be sure it's connected?" Sara asked.

"We're fairly confident that the timeframe matches, else it's a huge coincidence. But that's why you guys are here. We figured we'd leave the evidence collecting for the experts," Brass stated.

"Does she have a history of running away?" Catherine asked.

"No, not according to the parents. She's never usually more than half an hour late from school if she gets caught up talking to her friends, but after nearly two hours they knew something was wrong," Brass replied.

"So you've spoken to her parents?" Catherine guessed.

"Briefly," Brass nodded. "They're compiling a list of her friends and anyone else who might be able to help."

Brass let out an exasperated sigh as his cell phone rang again. He answered it and walked away.

"Okay, I think we need to get started on this now. Cath, you and me will head to Anna's house to speak to her parents and get that list of friends," Grissom announced. "The rest of you stay here and see what you can find. You know the drill - tyre treads, shoe impressions, etc. And find out if anyone has requested the CCTV footage from the area."

"We'll get right on it," Nick insisted.

And they did. As Catherine and Grissom headed off down the street, as Anna's house was less than a five minute walk from the suspected abduction site, Nick, Sara and Greg quickly got to work searching for evidence that Anna had been in the near vicinity when she was taken. Warrick and Brass went to speak to the kind old lady who lived directly opposite the taped off section of pavement and road who'd reported seeing a car screeching away after hearing about the young girls disappearance, wondering what exactly she had seen.

Sara's attention was instantly grabbed by the fresh tyre treads on the road, standing out like it was flashing with hypothetical lights. Her mind instantly began running over theories as she took measurements and photographs of her find. Meanwhile, Nick was scouring the pavement for something that would help, though he wasn't quite sure what. It had rained slightly after four o'clock, only for a few minutes but it was long enough to erase any potential shoe impressions made by their suspect, but in all honesty Nick wasn't convinced that there had been any evidence to have washed away. He walked up and down the length of the street, glancing down at the few shrubs and bushes that lined the path. He looked perplexed before spotting a CCTV camera at the end of the road, sitting proudly on top of the streetlight. Coming to the conclusion that there wasn't any evidence on the pathway that he could find, Nick set about making some enquiries.

Greg called Sara over when he saw something on the road catch the light from the streetlights slightly. They both concluded that it was glass from a headlight. The small shard of clear and slightly dented glass was fairly generic, but it was pretty much the best they had done for evidence.

Nick hung up his cell phone and placed it back inside his pocket as he walked towards his colleagues. "Right, so that's the security camera footage being sent to the lab. And see that little convenience store on the corner? It has an ATM machine with a camera, so maybe we'll get lucky there too."

"Great," Greg nodded, placing the glass shard into a small evidence container.

Sara smiled self-consciously, rubbing her left arm with her opposite hand to try and bring some of the feeling back into it; it seemed to be one of the more chilly evenings in a while.

"You okay?" Nick raised an eyebrow with concern.

"Aha," she nodded, forcing a smile. "Winter's creeping up on me, that's all."

Sara continued to shiver, not enjoying the sharp nip in the air.

Nick looked over to her, seeing her rub her arms once again to try get some warmth into them to no avail. He instantly straightened up and did the one thing he could think of that would help her.

"Here, take this," Nick insisted politely as he took off his jacket and went to hand it over to her.

Sara quickly shook her head. "No, you keep it. I'm fine."

"You're not fine, Sara, you're freezing," Nick raised an eyebrow. "Please, just take it."

"I can't... You'll be freezing without it," she protested. "It's my own fault, I should have taken mine. I'll be fine."

"Sara," he gave her a look and moved the jacket closer to her. "Please, take it."

Sara smiled shyly, giving him a curious look. "If you're sure..."

"Of course I'm sure," Nick insisted, shrugging as he continued. "I've been told I have a naturally high body temperature anyway."

She reached out and took the dark jacket from his grasp. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," he smiled sheepishly and moved away from her.

"We'll catch up with you later," they heard Warrick's voice grow louder.

"How did you get on?" Sara instantly asked as the taller man approached them, quickly stepping away from Nick.

Warrick just shrugged. "Didn't find out anything new. What about you guys?"

Greg mimicked Warrick's shrug, and somewhat hopeless expression.

"Oh, well on that cheery note..," Nick said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"I was thinking - yes, I know, it's a dangerous hobby of mine - but do you think Anna knew her abductor?" Greg wondered.

"I was going to say the same thing, actually. Let's say the car pulls up... the driver probably winds the window down to speak to Anna, then what, asks if she wants to go with him to see some puppies?" Warrick didn't seem convinced by what he was saying.

"No, she's too smart for that," Sara insisted, enjoying the comforting smell of Nick surrounding her. "She's old enough to know not to speak to strangers."

"He wouldn't have been offering her a lift home either because she was practically on her doorstep already," Nick added, looking puzzled. "So why would she have got in the car?"

"He could have had a gun, or a knife. Or he could have just got out and dragged her onto the backseat, he would have easily overpowered her, if it was a man," Warrick thought aloud. "Let's just hope those security cameras can shed some light on the situation."

While Warrick, Greg, Nick and Sara headed back to the crime lab with their evidence and theories, their superiors were searching through Anna Wilson's bedroom. It was much like you would expect a twelve year old girls' bedroom to look like: it was covered in posters of boy bands and actors, most of whom Grissom didn't recognise, along with pictures of her family and friends on her pastel wall. The entire room was a light shade of purple, with matching curtains and lampshade, even the shelves that held the young girls' collection of stuffed animals was a metallic purple colour. Catherine gazed round the room, sighing at the thought of how similar it was to Lindsay's when she was the same age. She tried her best to focus on returning Anna to her family, as Grissom opened the bottom drawer of the the girls' desk to reveal a journal. After being granted permission by the distraught parents, they took the journal back to lab, collecting the CCTV footage that had been requested from the front desk when they got back.

A couple of hours later, Sara was sitting in her own little world, absentmindedly gazing down at the photographs she'd taken of the tyre treads at the scene whilst scrolling through the database for matches. She was acutely aware of the time but in trying to hurry herself it felt as though things were going ten times slower instead. She'd uploaded the image onto the computer and was now just waiting for it to beam back some results. She was hoping that the tyres were so unique that only one car in the whole world had them and then they would have found the person who'd taken Anna Wilson, but that was highly unlikely to happen.

Nick came in the room and smiled as he watched Sara work. He hadn't purposely entered the room silently but he took the chance to admire her as he so often had in the past, though recently he hadn't dared to look at her for more than was necessary.

"Hard at work, I see," he spoke up, approaching her from behind.

"More than I can say for you," she shot back.

"Got a match yet?"

"As a matter of fact I do...," Sara trailed off, her eyes glued to the computer screen. "I managed to narrow down the search radius due to the width of the car. From my calculations we're looking for a large vehicle, like a SUV or a Buick. And the winner is... the Honda CR-V range."

"Beautiful _and_ intelligent...," Nick teased out of habit.

He instantly regretted his words. By this point he was leaning over her shoulder looking at what she'd found, so their close proximity only intensified the situation. In the past she would have just blushed and brushed it off, quickly retaliating with a comment of her own, but in the past Nick probably wouldn't have even given his slip of the tongue a second thought. It wasn't exactly one of his more flirtatious of comments but he feared that Sara would take even his breathing the wrong way. He quickly took a step back from her.

Nick cleared his throat, awkwardly. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. It's not exactly appropriate for the work place, especially not with what's going on right now."

"I'm not the type to go running off to Ecklie screaming sexual harassment," Sara insisted, turning in her chair to face him better, chewing on her lower lip slightly.

"You'd have grounds if you did," Nick replied.

"So would you, and a lot of others around here," Sara stated. "But we never mean any harm. I don't anyway, and I'm sure you don't either. It doesn't always mean anything. It's pretty harmless, really."

Nick let out a slow sigh as he nodded in agreement.

"Good, you two are both here," Catherine blurted out as she burst through the doors.

"I was just about to call you," Sara insisted. "The tyre treads match..."

"Let me guess...," Catherine interrupted. "A blue Honda CR-V?"

"I can't give you the colour but yeah...," Sara nodded.

"CCTV footage get a good picture?" Nick questioned.

"Aha. It clearly shows the driver of a blue Honda driving away from the scene of the crime after knocking over Anna and shoving her onto the backseat of his car, hence the glass that Greg found at the scene," Catherine explained. "Though unfortunately we don't get a good enough look at the guys face."

"What about the license plate?" Sara asked.

"Out of luck again; we could only make out the first couple of letter on the plate," Catherine told them with a sigh. Her phone vibrated in her pocket. "That's Archie with the list of license plates that match our partial. Good work you two. I'll catch up with you later."

And as quickly as she had entered she was gone.

Nick sighed pitifully at himself, and the situation. He knew this reaction from her was possible but in reality he hadn't really been prepared for it. Admittedly, things had been improving between them, but in some ways that only made him feel worse; this was an improvement and they were still standing on a knife edge. All he wanted was to make it up to her, was that so much to ask for? Was it that hard to achieve? Nick had been trying to make her forgive him, maybe he'd been trying too hard.

Sara gazed down at the floor as the atmosphere shifted back to being awkward again. Nick decided it was best if he made his excuses and left her alone.

"I'm just going to go...," Nick pointed out the door as he stepped back a bit, sighing as he did so.

Sara found herself reaching out a hand to stop him. "Hey... are we okay?" she wondered, nervously twiddling her fingers.

"Yeah, of course we are," Nick insisted, though he didn't sound convinced.

Sara struggled for a moment to find her words. "I… I know... I know it's difficult but we, uh, we need to stay professional. I'm not sure how pleased Anna's parents would be if they found out that we could have found their daughter sooner, or maybe even alive if instead we find her body, because we were too busy avoiding each other."

"I'm not the one avoiding you, Sara," Nick stated, their eyes meeting.

"I know that. But I don't know what to do. There isn't exactly a manual for any of this. I'm dealing with it the only way I know how," Sara tried to explain.

"It's okay, you don't need to explain, I understand."

"But right now, we need to focus on this case and forget about everything else for the time being. We'll deal with it later. Does that sound okay?" Sara raised an eyebrow in question.

Nick nodded. "Yeah. Let's go find this little girl."

Thank you for reading. This one is more of a filler chapter to be honest, and again I kind of winged it with the stuff about the car. More to come soon. Review please.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

A/N: Woohoo! Two chapters in a week! And there's only two more chapters to go...

Chapter 8

Nick left the room as he'd intended. He exited with a sigh, cursing himself for how he'd dealt with the situation as it had evolved over the week. He realised that he'd been naive to think that she wouldn't have reacted this way, that she would have maybe even been pleased by his confession. He didn't think he had a hope in hell now of resurrecting what they once had, let alone have a more intimate relationship. Although he was pleased to have finally said what had been on his mind for so long, a part of him wished he'd kept quiet. He'd waited that long, why not wait a while longer? Nick usually considered himself to be quite an optimistic person - more of a glass half-full kinda guy - but he was finding it incredibly hard to be optimistic about his future with Sara, in any sense.

Meanwhile, Catherine delegated the roll of narrowing down any potential suspects to Greg, so he and Archie sat for the next hour looking up every name that had appeared on that list, only able to mark off a few names on the grounds of the person no longer living in the Las Vegas area and two cars were registered to women aged over 70, who they didn't believe would be capable of the abduction. They searched the name of every remaining person on that list through every database they could think of, and one name stuck out like a sore thumb: Rick Miller, owner of a 2009 blue Honda CR-V. The best part being he was the father of none other than Becky Miller, Anna's best friend, hence why he stuck out. It may have been a coincidence but Greg thought it would be worth talking to him, if for no other reason than to rule him out. But he knew Grissom didn't believe in coincidences so reminded himself to keep an open mind.

After dumping the more boring of tasks she had to do on poor Greg, Catherine requested Sara's help with the journal, having made photocopies to speed up the process.

"Do we even know what we're looking for?" Sara wondered.

"I guess we'll know it when we read it," Catherine shrugged.

Sara gave a slight nod in response before she began scanning over the pages.

"So are you still avoiding him?" Catherine commented, raising an eyebrow after a few minutes of silence. "Nick, I mean."

"It's really...," Sara started, feeling very awkward about the whole situation.

"Yeah, I know. It's none of my business...," Catherine put her hands in the air in surrender.

"I'm just... I'm trying to separate it, that's all. Separate work from home. Compartmentalise everything," Sara stated. "He's making it very hard but I'm doing my best. I'm dealing with this the only way I know how."

"I know you are," Catherine turned to address her. "And I'm sure you'll work things out."

"I'm glad someone has some faith in me," Sara smiled in spite of herself.

"You're being too hard on yourself," Catherine insisted.

"What do you want me to say? No matter what I say I'm going to turn into the bad guy in all my of this," Sara snapped. "I'm gonna be the one in the wrong, not him."

"We're not going to interfere. We all just want you and Nicky to be happy," she added, casting her a sympathetic look

Sara gulped. "I just want to get on with this..."

"Can I ask you one thing? Do you feel the same way about him?"

"So have you read anything interesting yet?" Sara asked, trying desperately hard to change the subject.

"You didn't answer my question?" Catherine gave her friend a knowing look.

"I'm aware of that," Sara pursed her lips, looking down to hide her blushing face.

Roughly ten minutes later in walked the male members of the team.

"How did it go interrogating the father?" Catherine asked, placing the papers in her hand down on the desk. "He lawyered up, didn't he?"

"What do you think?" Warrick raised his eyebrows, not looking very happy about it.

"I think he's hiding something alright," Greg insisted, looking frustrated. "Scrap that: I know he's hiding something."

"That doesn't necessarily mean he's hiding Anna Wilson," Grissom stated, looking over his glasses

"What hour are we on now?" Nick wondered.

"Nine," Catherine replied. "We may not have much longer to find her before it's too late."

"I still don't know why he would take her," Warrick added. "What's his motive?"

"Thought we weren't supposed to care about the why?" Nick countered.

"But there must be a reason," Warrick insisted.

"Hang on...," Sara announced, looking down at the sheets of paper of Anna's photocopied diary. "Listen to this... 'Today I found out something horrible. I wish she'd never told me. What he's doing to her is disgusting and wrong. She needs to tell someone else, a grown up that can help. He has to stop hurting her, he has to.'"

The rest of the rooms' occupants looked thoughtful and puzzled.

"Who's she talking about?" Greg questioned.

"A better question would be who would tell her something like this, something so important?" Catherine countered.

"A best friend, maybe?" Nick suggested. "Best friends tell each other everything, especially pre teenage best friends."

"So Anna's talking about Becky?" Sara surmised.

"I'd say so, wouldn't you?" Nick raised an eyebrow.

"And the 'he' she's referring to would be... Becky's father, Rick? The same man we currently have in custody?" Sara thought aloud.

Nick nodded. "And by the sound of it he's been sexual assaulting his own daughter."

"And Becky told the only person she could, her best friend," Sara added. "But unlike Becky, who was no doubt terrified of what her dad would do to her, Anna wasn't scared of him."

"I think we've found our motive," Nick stated solemnly.

"We can't do anything without evidence, Nick, you know that," Grissom reminded him. "We need concrete proof."

"We can speak to Becky, see if we can get her to talk," Sara offered. "Wouldn't hurt to do a bit of digging."

"Well you're the dream team; if you two can't figure this out then no one will," Catherine stated with a smile.

Sara blushed slightly and looked down, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

Sadly their suspicions were confirmed. Nick and Sara gently quizzed Becky about what was written in Anna's diary and she confirmed their theory, just about holding back her tears. It all came down to Nick and Sara's determination and combined skill set, and once again they wrapped up another case. It was shocking really that they were able to practically guess what was going on, based almost purely on their vast experience in the field of child abuse cases. But Becky had been saved, rescued from her vile father far earlier than some girls are or ever were, and Anna too was rescued. With Becky's confession and Anna's diary, Rick Miller was going away for many years but not before revealing what had happened to Anna. After a mild threat from Nick and Brass, who'd closed the blinds in the interrogation room to give the illusion that they were both more than prepared to beat a confession out of him - which at the end of the day wasn't all that much of an exaggeration, especially for Brass - he was all but wiling to announce that he hadn't killed Anna, that he was holding her in his storage facility in Henderson. She was cold, sore and somewhat dazed but Anna was okay, having only sustained minor cuts and abrasions caused by the hit-and-grab. Rick Miller was the worst of the worst, a selfish cowardly manipulator who only cared about himself, and in the bid for self-perseveration he was willing to do just about anything to stop people finding out his sordid little secret. Anna was going to tell her parents and Becky's mum what had been going on and Rick couldn't let that happen, so he did what he felt necessary to save himself. The team felt lucky really that he had been in custody for a while prior to his arrest else they could have made a very different discovery at the storage unit.

"Hi," Sara smiled sheepishly as she entered the locker room a short while later.

"Hi," Nick echoed.

"Everything okay?" she asked, clearly making small talk.

"Fine," he shrugged a shoulder. "You?"

"Um, okay, I guess. I'm just finishing off the report," she explained, hovering in the doorway and fidgeting. "You'd think that with all the technology nowadays that the evidence would be enough and they wouldn't need our version of events."

Nick smiled nervously. "If only."

After a brief moment of silence Nick spoke up.

"I just wanted to say..."

"I was going to...," Sara interrupted.

They shared a nervous laugh.

"Go on, you started so you go first," Sara insisted.

"Ladies first," he countered, smirking a little.

Sara cleared her throat nervously. "I, uh, I just wanted to say well done for today."

"It was a team effort," Nick shrugged. "I couldn't have done it without you though."

Sara blushed self-consciously, looking away. "But, uh, we um, we found a young girl today and that's what it's all about at the end of the day."

"Makes everything else worthwhile," Nick added.

Sara took a deep breath before continuing. "And, you know, I've been meaning to thank you for what you did last week, you know, with the whole bomb incident thing. So thank you."

"You're welcome," he smiled, though he looked somewhat embarrassed. "But there's no need to say anything more about it, what's done is done."

Sara shook her head. "No, Nick, what you did was..."

"Stupid?" Nick guessed, almost smirking.

"No... Well, yes but that wasn't what I was going to say. I was thinking something more along the lines of... of brave," Sara admitted, forcing herself to meet his gaze.

"It was nothing," Nick blushed slightly. "I didn't even need to think about it, I just did it. And like I said at the time, I couldn't leave you there by yourself."

Sara bit her lip in embarrassment and stared down at the floor.

Nick took a deep breath before continuing. "Are you hungry? Fancy having breakfast with me? My treat."

Sara seemed momentarily stunned.

"I think we deserve it after today. And you know what they say, an army marches on it's stomach," Nick added, raising an eyebrow in anticipation.

Sara nodded. "Yeah, breakfast would be good. And who am I to turn down free food from you."

Nick smiled widely. "That's... That's great. That's really great. So will I meet you there?"

"Yeah, I should be done in ten minutes or so."

Nick smiled sweetly. "I'll be waiting."

Sara moved to one side to let Nick past, watching as he left the room and instantly letting out a puff of air once he was gone. It shouldn't have been that way, they shouldn't have been acting that way around each other. Rather, it was Sara who shouldn't have been acting that way around Nick; she shouldn't have been relieved that he'd left. After all, he was the innocent party in all of this. Well, the more innocent of the two of them. He had been forced to except the sudden change in their relationship, and evidently not the change he'd wished for all these years.

But it was his fault things had turned out the way they had, not hers. He may have been innocent in the sense that it was Sara that had freaked out and was acting weird about the whole thing but it was him who'd started the whole thing. Sara hadn't asked for him to suddenly announce that he had romantic feelings for her. He had to take responsibility for that. He'd made his bed so he should lie in it. Nick had started all of this fallout and she would be damned if she was going to blame herself for it. But she had to take some credit for the current situation. While she hadn't asked for it to happen it had happened regardless and there was nothing she nor Nick could do to change that now, so she needed to find a way to deal with it. She probably could've dealt with it a bit better. She knew now that avoiding and ignoring one of her closest friends and colleagues wasn't the answer to their problems. She could run but she couldn't hide. She couldn't hide from Nick's revelation simply by not seeing him, it didn't change what she now knew about him. She knew she couldn't avoid the situation or Nick forever. That just wasn't practical. She knew she had to face it. She also knew that it would be difficult and probably awkward but it needed to be done in order for both of them to move on in which ever direction that may be.

Sara left the locker room, feeling empowered. She decided that she was willing to listen to what Nick had to say. For once she would simply sit back and listen, because he probably had a lot of explaining to do. Until now she hadn't given him a chance to say more than a few words off the subject of work before she'd make her excuses and got as far away from him as she could. But things had been slowly improving as the week had passed, but it wasn't even nearly enough. So they would talk. Well, he would talk and she would listen. Sara had more than a few questions to ask him but she was sure that Nick would cover many of them as he explained his side of things. And after she'd listened to what he had to say, she would listen to her heart for a change. So many times she'd followed said organ and it had led her in completely the wrong direction on quite a few occasions, so for awhile it had felt safer to listen to her head. The information centre of her body didn't feel anything, and she knew all too well how feelings could complicate things, so by letting her head rule her heart she felt she could make good educated guesses without getting heartbroken again. But in the same breath her head hadn't exactly led her down the right path in the past. So on this occasion she decided it was time to change tactics; she would act on impulse and do what felt right at that moment in time.

Sara did feel something for him, how deep that something was she wasn't quite sure of yet. She hadn't allowed herself to find out, and she still wouldn't until Nick had made his peace. She wasn't yet convinced he meant what he had said. A part of her wondered if it was just an impulse reaction to what had happened. The pair of them could have died, one wrong move from either of them and their colleagues would have been helping to plan a double funeral. Obviously that hadn't happened, and they were both still very much alive and kicking, but it still nagged her over whether Nick was truly being honest with her. Because she'd been avoiding the subject she still had some questions that needed answering. She'd been spending a lot of time thinking about it and realised she needed said answers to establish her own feelings and emotions on the subject. She always felt something for him, a more than slight tugging at her heart would maybe be an accurate way to describing it, but she fought against it and focused on work, knowing all too well about how work relationships could end up. She and Grissom had never even really had a thing and he'd broken her heart like a twig. She would do everything in her power to not let that happen again. Having said that, Nick wasn't Grissom; they were very different characters indeed. Nick was a good man with a good heart, and didn't seem the type of guy to lead someone on - not that that was Grissom's intention either. Maybe her feelings wouldn't be unrequited for a change. In fact, she knew for sure that if she did feel anything for him her feelings would be anything but unrequited. That was certainly food for thought.

She turned the corner and was going to head in the direction of the break room once again, to try and finish her paperwork in silence, when Henry flagged her down.

She gave the DNA tech a puzzled look, as she came towards him.

"Are you missing something?" he wondered, waving a cell phone in front of her face.

"Where did you find it?" Sara raised an eyebrow.

"With Bobby in ballistics," Henry explained.

"You know, I thought I was missing something...," she trailed off as she took the phone from him. "I had no idea it was missing, but thank you anyway."

"My talents are endless," Henry shrugged, smiling coyly.

"It must be a quality only reserved for experts in DNA analysis," Greg insisted, appearing in the doorway.

"Is that so?" Sara pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows.

"There is more to us DNA dynamos than meet the eye," Greg stated.

"DNA dynamos?" Henry questioned, clearly not impressed.

Greg shrugged. "It was the first thing I could come up with."

"Anyway, thank you for this. All I have to do now is sign off on my report and I can leave," Sara spoke up again, smiling gratefully.

"Going anywhere nice?" Greg enquired.

"Just to the diner... for breakfast... with Nick," Sara shrugged, looking down to hide the redness appearing in her cheeks.

Greg smiled. "Good. I'm glad to see you two getting on again. I know it's partly my fault but it's a good thing you're not still being weird around each other."

"What do you mean 'partly'?" Sara raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, alright," Greg huffed, shrugging off her comments.

Sara turned her attention back to Henry. "Thanks again for this, Henry. I owe you one."

"Many people do," Henry nodded.

"Oh, that reminds me. I've gotta talk to Nick about that bet, I owe him a hundred bucks. It's weird that he's not asked me for it yet, but I guess with everything else going on it's not really been his priority. I wonder if he'll just let me pay him in instalments, maybe I'll just buy him coffee every day for as long as it takes to pay off my debt. I still can't believe I lost. It was a sure fire win for me, I never expecting him to actually...," Greg rambled absentmindedly, instantly stopping when he realised what he was about to say.

"Huh?" Sara looked up from papers in her hand having been skimming over the content. "Did you say something about a bet? What was it about?"

"Nothing, it's not important," Greg insisted, mentally kicking himself for letting it slip.

"You bet a hundred dollars on something - a stupid amount of money if you ask me - it must be important," Sara countered.

"It's really nothing... I mean, you're right, it was stupid, the whole thing was stupid. Never again will I make a bet with Nick about anything to do with you...," Greg mumbled, trying to stop himself from saying anything else that would incriminate him and no doubt sentence him to certain death. Too late.

"What did you just say?" Sara raised her eyebrows in surprise. "The bet was about me?"

"No, I never said that," Greg attempted to deny it.

"Greg, don't even try it. Why was it about me?"

"I said Nick would never tell you how he felt about you, but he said he would so I made things interesting by betting a hundred bucks that he wouldn't say anything to you within a week," Greg explained, sighing.

Henry's face fully conveyed the thoughts that entered his head at that exact moment, and took the first chance he had to quickly exit the room.

"Why would you do that?" Sara asked, looking hurt and confused.

"I thought it would be the push he finally needed, that's all. He's been keeping it to himself for so long I just thought you should know. I never really expected to win, I thought he'd tell you and we'd forget all about it," Greg insisted.

"But why?" Sara questioned, narrowing her eyes a little.

"You were never supposed to find out about it," he shrugged, shaking his head.

"Oh, because that makes it so much better," she insisted sarcastically, fighting back her emotions.

"I don't know what else to say...," Greg admitted.

"Don't say anything," she held up her hand to stop him before storming out of the room.

Thank you for reading. More to come soon. Trust me, this is going somewhere. Review please.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this story, and an extra thanks to those of you who left a review. This is the penultimate chapter. Let me know what you think of it.

Chapter 9

Nick sat patiently waiting for the arrival of the remaining members of the team. He had been the first to arrive at the lab that evening. It was relatively unusual for him to come in that early but that day was an exception. He'd been rattling around inside his house all morning, practically twiddling his thumbs as he waited for his phone to ring, or for a knock on the door. Neither happened. He tried sleeping but his brain was too active to rest. He did eventually manage to get maybe an hour or so after he dozed off as some boring documentary lulled him to sleep. So when he woke up he chose to head into work to maybe make himself useful.

Nick straightened himself up slightly as he heard high-heeled shoes clicking against the titled floor, but as the woman turned the corner it wasn't who Nick was hoping it would be.

"Evening," Catherine greeted as she walked into the room a few minutes later.

Nick looked consumed by his thoughts and only responded with a nod and half smile.

Catherine gave him a look. "Are you okay, Nicky?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Nick insisted.

"Are you sure? You look kinda...," Catherine trailed off as she gave him the once over, noting he looked somewhat dejected as he slouched in his seat. "...down."

"Didn't sleep very well, my AC has packed it," he lied. "I'll be alright when the caffeine kicks in."

The truth was he was anything but fine. He had been going out of his mind most of the afternoon, almost wearing a hole in his carpet from all his pacing. All he had going round and round his head were things like 'what if she's had an accident?' or 'what if she's lying dead in a ditch somewhere?' He needed to know that she was alright. Nick had tried to call her so many times that afternoon but she hadn't picked up, nor had she answered the door when he went round to see her. She was driving him slowly insane, though that wasn't a new thing by far. But this wasn't the good kind of insane he had grown to enjoy. He was starting to be really worried about her. And then he only freaked out even more when his mind went into overdrive about all the reasons she might have had for not answering his calls if she was fine. Had he said something or done something wrong? The sooner Sara arrived at the lab the better.

So the part about him not sleeping very well wasn't a lie, just the rest of his statement was artistic license. He'd tried but sleep wouldn't come. He'd tried as soon as he got back from the diner just after midday, but his head was too full of questions. A while later, as the sun was hanging high in the sky - it wasn't particularly unusual for him to be falling asleep around that sort of - he tried to drift off to the land of nod but again all he achieved was counting all the blemishes on his ceiling wall and concocting yet more theories as too what had happened to Sara. That's when he decided to go into work early, convincing himself that he could survive on caffeine for a night. He'd sit and wait for Sara to come in, because if he was thinking rationally he knew she was fine. She was always one of the first people to come in so he figured he wouldn't have to wait long. But Catherine was in first, not that that was illegal or anything, it was just frustrating. Nick felt as though Sara was doing this on purpose, purposely taking her time to come in. But just because she wasn't the first one in didn't mean she wouldn't be the second.

Catherine proceeded to pour herself some coffee, keeping a weary eye on her colleague. She hoped it was just a case of the weekend blues, but in reality it probably had something to do with Sara. Everything with Nick had something to do with Sara.

Next in the room came Greg. He initially looked cheerful and seemed to have almost a skip in his step, but that grounded to a halt in the doorway when he spotted Nick sitting at the table. He was much more subdued as he shuffled into the room. Nick let out an impatient sigh and rolled his eyes as Greg sat a few chairs away from him. What was taking Sara so long?

Along came Grissom a few minutes later, but only briefly enough to poke his head round the doorframe and yell, 'if you see the sheriff, tell him I'm not here yet.' And then he disappeared again. He reappeared about ten minutes later, assuring the three members of his team that had assembled early that the crisis had been averted but didn't choose to elaborate. Warrick entered the room shortly after, and Nick's face fell upon seeing him.

"Sorry to disappoint," Warrick teased as he made his way towards the coffee maker.

Nick smirked in response and fixed his eyes on the doorway again, like they had been for pretty much the entire time he'd been sitting in the break room.

Grissom flicked through the newspaper in front of him, though he wasn't particularly interested in reading it. He stopped to check his watch, and then glanced over at the clock on the wall for verification of the time.

"Has anyone heard from Sara this evening?" he spoke up.

"No, I've not. Don't know about the rest of you...," Greg shrugged.

"It's not like Sara to be late," Warrick commented.

"She's not late yet," Catherine insisted. "Shift doesn't technically start for another few minutes yet so she's still got time. She'll probably be here any minute now."

Grissom's cell phone rang before the silence ensued amongst the others. Nick sat low in his chair as he continued to stare down the hallway, waiting for Sara to arrive. He was beginning to wonder what was taking her so long, and hoping that everything was okay. He was sure everything was fine but still, he couldn't help but fret for her. It was in his nature to care and worry about her, he couldn't help it. He had these deep set feelings towards her that only compelled him to fear for her safety. It was only natural for Nick to be protective over the woman he loved, he thought so anyway. He sat nervously twitching his fingers and absentmindedly gazing off into space.

Grissom hung up and turned to address the room. "We have a double 419 at the Bellagio, a potential murder-suicide. Brass isn't convinced it's that straightforward so wants some clarification. Catherine and Nick - I'd like you two..."

"Sorry...," Sara interrupted, looking somewhat embarrassed as she entered the room. "Car trouble."

"That's quite alright," Grissom nodded.

Sara snuck into the room, shuffling round her colleagues as they sat round the table. She reached the end of the table and pulled out the chair to sit herself down, avoiding eye contact with Nick as he smiled widely at her.

"As I was saying, I'd like you two to handle this. Brass will meet you there," Grissom continued. "Warrick, you're preparing for your court case tomorrow, correct?"

"Unfortunately," Warrick grumbled and rolled his eyes.

"Get Sara to help you. You worked it together, didn't you? So far it's a slow night so you should at least put your intellect to good use," Grissom insisted.

"What about me?" Greg wondered. "Am I doing paperwork?"

"You get to work solo," Grissom handed Greg over a piece of paper. "Smash and grab at a liquor store."

"Now, Griss, you and I both know you aren't supposed to have favourites," Catherine teased.

"We could swap?" Greg offered.

"No thanks," Catherine smirked, before turning her attention back to Nick and their case. "I'm gonna go check my kit is fully stocked then I'll meet you outside?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah. I'll be there in ten. There's just something I've got to do first."

Catherine turned and left the room, whilst Nick looked over at Sara who was discussing the court case with Warrick. He knew that his face had lit up like a Christmas tree as his eyes fell on his female colleague. He never meant for it to happen, it just always did, always had. But Sara hadn't seemed that pleased to see him that evening. Nick naturally assumed that maybe she was a little stressed out after having car trouble and then being late for work so she was just focusing on the task at hand. He loved that about her. He loved her passion and enthusiasm when it came to exploring every possible angle of a case. She really was one of a kind.

Nick shook his head back to reality and moved across the room. He cleared his throat as he came to a stop in front of them.

"Can I, uh, talk to you for... for a minute?" he stumbled over his words nervously.

Sara's face instantly fell and her eyes narrowed. She seemed to be almost glaring at him.

"I'll give you two a few minutes," Warrick said, standing up. "I need to go find the case files anyway."

Once Warrick had moved past them, Nick took a step closer and smiled at her. "Are you okay?"

Sara gritted her teeth. "Fine."

"That's all I wanted really, to know if you were okay. We were supposed to meet at the diner yesterday after shift but you didn't show up so I got a little concerned. Did you get any of my messages, my texts?" Nick questioned.

Sara didn't respond, merely clenching her jaw to prevent herself from saying something she would regret.

"I hung around the diner for a good hour waiting for you, then I waited all morning for you to call me back. I just wondered what had happened," Nick stated, looking glum.

Sara just stood there with a blank yet irritated look on her face, flatly refusing to acknowledge him in anyway.

"If I've done something wrong, please just tell me," Nick continued. "I'll do whatever I can to make it up to you."

"I know all about the bet you made," she stated, narrowing her eyes.

Nick looked surprised. "How...?"

"Greg told me," Sara replied, folding her arms over he chest.

"Whatever he said, it isn't true. It's not what it sounds like," Nick was quick to try and explain his actions.

"So you think I'm incompetent too?" Sara glared at him.

"No, not at all...," he stuttered to get his words out.

"How did you think I wouldn't find out about it?"

"I never thought about that, I'll be honest with you," Nick admitted. "I've barely even thought about since I stupidly agreed to it. I would've thought that you wouldn't need to know about it because it didn't really concern you."

"But it was about me though, wasn't it?" Sara raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I suppose so. But not in a horrible way," Nick insisted.

"No, not at all," Sara agreed, a sarcastic tone lacing her voice. "Just in a 'what she doesn't know won't her' kinda way, right?"

"Yes... No...," he fumbled over his words.

"Yeah, so it's fine to bet over me but only as long as I don't find out," Sara glared at him once more.

"That's not true, Sara. It was nothing like that," Nick insisted, shaking his head. "It was just a bit of..."

"Fun?" Sara assumed. "Do you find it fun playing with someone else's feelings?"

"Of course not..."

"I can't even begin to tell you how hurt I feel right now," she stated, the emotion coming through as she spoke.

"Please, just let me explain. It really isn't what you think," Nick insisted, sounding desperate.

"Oh, I'm dying to hear this," she insisted sarcastically, keeping her arms folded over her chest in a defensive gesture.

"It was stupid, yes, but not hurtful, at least that was never our intention. Warrick found out that I had feelings for you years ago, he said it was obvious, that I was rubbish at hiding it... anyway, my point is he told Greg and then Greg started hassling me about it, saying I'd never do anything about it. Then he came up with this bet that I wouldn't say anything to you within a week," Nick tried to explain. "It was nothing, it never meant a thing to me. I never once entered my head when we were holding that bomb."

"So, what? Was this some sort of perverted way of competing to see which of you could sleep with me first?" Sara narrowed her eyes again. "If you'd have lost the bet would he have got a shot?"

"No! It was nothing like that, I swear," Nick insisted.

"That's supposed to mean anything to me?" she raised her eyebrows.

"It was a meaningless prank. He was just trying to help, in the only way that Greg knows how," Nick continued. "It's was just a kind of incentive..."

"Surely I was enough of an incentive? You thought you'd confess these feelings that apparently everyone else on the planet knew about but me, and I'd just go weak at the knees, flutter my eyelashes at you, drag you off to bed..."

"No! That was never...," Nick insisted sternly.

Catherine had come back looking for her assigned partner on her most recent case, noting the heated discussion going on between him and Sara. "Nicky, you coming?" she interrupted.

Both Nick and Sara snapped their necks in the direction of the voice. Nick instantly let out a sigh. "Yeah... I'll be right there. We're almost done."

"There's nothing else to say, Nick," Sara stated with a glare, quickly turning and walking away from him.

The way she looked at him now, with such disgust and disappointment, though she was probably bordering on hatred too, made his heart sink. He'd known that there was every possibility that she would decline his advances, and he knew that it would have probably broken his heart, literally left an empty void in his life, but she was crushing him and all his hopes and dreams with just a look. He figured that now his chances of being with her were slim to nonexistent, and that hurt even more. Worse still, because yes it could be worse, Nick had no one to blame but himself. He'd went about things the wrong way, he knew that now. But there was nothing he could do to change that now, he didn't have a time machine to go back ten days and make everything right again. He had messed up, and ruined everything. When he'd spoken to his father, Nick could see it in his eyes that he didn't really believe him when he'd said that he could potentially ruin everything by confessing his feelings for Sara, Nick assumed that his father probably thought he was overreacting, and he wished more than anything that that been the case. He could stomach the rejection, just about, but the way she was looking at him, that he couldn't take. Everything they had before was gone, ruined. Their friendship; gone. Their working relationship; nonexistent. Their future together; not even a glimmer on the horizon. He knew the risks, but figured they were worth taking. He'd wanted to test the waters in a sense, see where things would go. He knew things could have gone horribly wrong but stupidly he believed everything would be alright in the end. How naive of him.

It was the fact that he had come so close. When she agreed to go out for breakfast with him, Nick had almost literally hit the roof with joy. After everything that had happened between them, all her avoidance and anger towards him, he had honestly thought that maybe, just maybe, everything would work out alright for them in the end. She'd given him hope. He'd gone into the diner and sat in the booth that Sara would always choose if she got the chance; it was just off the centre, but more to the left, towards the back. Sara had stated many times that people who came in and just shuffled off to the back out of the way we're just rude, so the middle was sensible compromise. So for whatever reason Nick chose to sit in that same booth, though he wasn't sure what he hoped to gain from it. Maybe Sara would be flattered by his thoughtful gesture and they'd be off to a great start before she'd even sat down. That may have happened if she would have turned up. Nick sat thinking as he waited, and waited, for her to push open the stiff glass door, mulling over what it was that made this particular booth special. He figured it was just one of her many quirks that made her unique, made her different from all other woman he had ever met.

And that was perhaps one of the best ways he could describe her; different. She was unique, a limited edition. Sara was special. She was always kindhearted and goodnatured, always had her heart in the right place. She was always up for a laugh and forever great company to be with. She would always effortlessly flirt with her male colleagues and used her outstanding intelligence for the greater good. That was his Sara in a nutshell, though he hated defining her in such simple words. His Sara. His amazingly beautiful Sara. He smiled in spite of himself; if she could hear him she would most likely slap him across the face and give him some kind of feminist lecture. Women weren't objects to be collected or won, used or abused, or be taken for granted in any way shape or form. That was just who she was. Sara had had a less than average childhood, though Nick never knew any of the minor details and didn't want to pry, and she'd had some bad experiences with men in the past. But Nick liked to think that everything that happened in her past made her who she was, as it did most people. Yes, she was defensive and reserved when it came to her feelings and emotions but that was only because she'd been messed about with in the past. Nick had been lucky enough to be able to see underneath all that, get behind her wall and see her for who she really was. She was simply incredible. Though there was a lot more to Sara than just her cute gap-toothed smile and her endless knowledge of everything forensics related. She brought out the best in him, made him a better person. And he hoped that he'd get the chance to repay the favour if she were to give him the chance. But he'd always been doubtful. To Nick she was way out of his league. To Nick she was so far out of his league she was in a completely different ballpark altogether. But stupidly he'd thought that they could have had something really special together. They had so much in common already, yet they had enough differences to intrigue the other. The possibilities that their future together had seemed endless once upon a time, but now Nick was finding it incredibly difficult to be even the slightest bit optimistic.

"Nicky? Nicky? Is everything okay?" Catherine called, startling her friend as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, everything's fine," Nick forced a smile. "Come on then, that crime scene won't process itself."

As Catherine and Nick made their way to the carpark, Sara dawdled down the corridor, absentmindedly frowning as she walked. She found Warrick laying out the folders and files in the A/V lab, the only vacant room that was relatively out of the way.

"Everything okay?" Warrick looked up upon hearing her enter the room.

"Yep," she said simply, shrugging as she pulled out a chair.

Warrick shook his head and decided not to press the issue. "Okay, so I gathered up all the files on the Marie Walker case, as well as Lisa Scott, Robyn Mitchell, Riley Clarke and Tara Redmond. I've also requested that all the evidence be sent up so we can check over everything, make sure we didn't miss anything."

Sara just nodded.

"Are you sure you're okay? You look as if someone's just told you your dog is dead," Warrick stated. "Cheer up; you're the lucky one who doesn't have to get up on the stand tomorrow."

"I don't feel very lucky right now."

Warrick let out a sigh and smiled sympathetically in her direction before taking a seat at the table. "Where do you wanna start?"

"I'll take Lisa. She was the first victim to be found, seems like the best place to start," Sara stated, sitting down and pulling the folder towards her.

Warrick followed her lead and opened up the first file he came across, Tara Redmond. They needed to go over the details of the case to be able to precisely answer any question from the defence or prosecutor. They had had quite a lot of practice, and Warrick personally found it helpful to have someone there to help make sure he knew all the facts of each individual murder, was able to identify even the tiniest of similarities between them, and maybe even do a little bit of roll play, with Sara quizzing him in her best authoritative voice and scrutinising his every word as only a defence lawyer can. He had the district feeling Sara wasn't in a very good mood and seemed quite distant, and he thought she even looked ready to burst into tears at any moment.

Meanwhile, Catherine and Nick were en route to their crime scene on the strip. Catherine glanced over to see her colleague daydreaming as he gazed out the passenger side window.

"Is everything okay between you and Sara?" she asked curiously.

"Uh huh," Nick nodded absentmindedly.

"Have you two had a chance to work out your... problems...?" Catherine wondered, not quite sure how to phrase it.

"Honestly? I have no idea," Nick replied, still looking out the window.

Catherine just nodded and chose to drop the subject, sensing that he didn't want to divulge any more information and she was getting a very strong vibe that he wanted her to change the subject. It was just as well she decided to turn on the radio, Nick really wasn't in the mood for idle chit chat.

A few hours later, Catherine and Nick returned from the crime scene, laden down with DNA swabs, bullet casings and fingerprints to be analysed.

"I'll get right to it," Mandy nodded.

"Thank you," Nick smiled, handing over the fingerprint samples before making a move for the door.

"Oh, by the way, Greg's been looking for you," Mandy called out.

"Really? I'll keep an eye out for him," Nick lied and forced a smile.

Truth was, at that moment in time if Nick never saw Greg again it would be too soon. If it wasn't one thing it was the other with that man, though Nick thought of him as more of a child at that moment. He knew it wasn't all Greg's fault, but maybe it was easier to blame someone else other than himself. At least now he could understand why Greg had looked so skittish in the break room when he saw him sat there. It was all making perfect sense now. Nick was seething with anger for his younger colleague, who he had considered a close friend. But what were they now? Great question. So not only had deciding to tell Sara how he felt for her wrecked everything they had, it was also having an effect on his other relationships with close friends and colleagues. Great, just bloody great. And now said person who Nick was mad at came round the corner and headed straight towards him.

"Hey... Hey, Nick...," Greg jogged to catch up with his friend who'd instantly turned away from him.

"What?" Nick gave him an unamused look.

"I've been looking for you," Greg started.

"And I've been avoiding you," Nick stated and tried to push past him.

"Wait, Nick, please. Let me explain..."

"There's nothing to explain," Nick insisted, pleading with his eyes for him to stop talking.

"There is, of course there is," Greg exclaimed. "I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am for what happened. I don't even know where to begin. It just sorta happened, just sorta came out. You have to know I never meant to say anything, you know that right?"

"Whatever, Greg. Just please stop talking about it now. I really don't want to talk about this else I'll probably end up saying something I'll regret," Nick tried to explain. "So please, just forget about it."

Nick managed to move past him at last, and went to start walking down the hall in the direction he'd been going.

"I'm sorry, Nick," Greg insisted sincerely. "Maybe I can try and talk to her..."

"You've done enough, don't you think?"

And with that Nick walked away.

Greg sighed as he watched him leave, his face falling in despair.

"I told you this would end badly," Warrick stated confidently from the doorway of the ballistics lab.

"What do you want, a medal?" Greg snapped.

"I should have put a bet on how this would turn out," Warrick continued, folding his arms over his chest.

"What are you, the tree of knowledge?" Greg glared.

"Maybe now you'll finally learn your lesson," Warrick gave him a look.

"I didn't do this on purpose, did I?" Greg huffed.

"Still, interfering can get you into a lot of trouble," Warrick insisted.

"Well, I'm not interfering ever again. From now on they're on their own."

Sara appeared behind Warrick and cleared her throat. Warrick turned to look at her, silently waiting for her to continue.

"I'm gonna go down and speak to Al about our vics," Sara stated softly.

Warrick gave her a smile. "You know where to find me when you're done."

So Sara made her way downstairs to her new found haven in the cold confinements of the morgue.

She pushed open the door a gave a sheepish smile to Doc Robbins, who was sitting thoughtfully at his desk. "Hey," was all she could think of to say.

"Good evening," Doc Robbins nodded, placing the pen in his hand gently down on top of the open folder in front of him.

"I bet you're getting sick of seeing me," Sara stated, smiling slightly in spite of herself.

"Not at all," Doc Robbins insisted.

"It's just nice being down here. People don't judge you, and I'm not just talking about the dead bodies," Sara let out a low breath.

"I'm not in this business to judge people, Sara. Neither of us are."

"But that's what I do upstairs everyday. That is practically my job, to judge people. I'm constantly judging people and making assumptions about people who I don't know and who I don't ever plan on knowing. But for a brief moment our lives collide, and I have to be on tender hooks the whole time, secretly making assessments about everyone around me. But most of the time I'm thinking the worst of everyone I meet anyway so what does that even matter?" Sara rambled. "I thought I was a good judge of character but it would appear not."

"Would you like to talk about it?" Doc Robbins guested to the empty seat next to him.

"You mean you don't know?" Sara asked, somewhat sarcastically.

"I heard about what happened between you and Nick...," Doc Robbins stated, assuming that was what she was getting at.

"Of course you did, who doesn't know?" she questioned rhetorically, sitting down.

"We try not to make a habit out of talking about you, or anyone else for that matter," he offered.

"Who'd David hear it from? Henry? Hodges?"

Al let out a sigh. "Hodges."

Sara rubbed her eyes. "Well, I guess it's not exactly a secret. Just as well, really."

"We could talk about what happened if you want to, if you want to get something's off your chest?"

"I'm supposed to be able to read people, but I had no idea Nick had these... these feelings for me," Sara sighed. "How didn't I realise? How did I not notice something was different?"

"You know weren't looking for anything," Al offered.

"That's not good enough," she insisted. "For so many years... for so many years he's just been right there, right next me, solving case after case, night after night... sitting next to me in the diner, just laughing and joking and enjoying each other's company, and this whole time... How did I not know?"

"At least you know now..."

"But then I hear about this stupid bet that he made with Greg and it makes me doubt everything," Sara interrupted. "We were going to talk, and I thought that maybe we could sort something out, maybe see where things went... I don't know. I don't know know what I thought. But now that I know about this bet that they made I'm wondering if he actually meant it, if he actually wanted to say anything. Or worse, did he actually mean it? Or is he just stringing me along?"

"Maybe you should concern yourself with your own feelings for him and work out how you feel about him, going on the basis that Nick isn't the type to lie about something, anything really," Al suggested. "Forget about everything else that's happened and focus on whether you feel the same way for him."

Sara squeezed her eyes closed and leaned back in the chair slightly. She cleared her throat before she spoke again, "I'd come down here to go over Daniel Westwood's victims. It goes to trail tomorrow. If you've got the time..."

"Just give me a few minutes to find my reports," he replied.

A short while later Sara returned to her usual surroundings of the lab, the ever common sharp lights and static whirl from various machines still present. She made her way into the layout room in the hopes of finding Warrick sitting hard at work at the desk, instead she found Nick slumped over some evidence.

Nick lifted his head upon hearing someone enter, assuming it would be Catherine, but he quickly straightened himself up as he realised it was Sara. "Hi...," he smiled nervously.

She quickly turned to leave, sighing as she did so.

"Sara, wait," Nick called out.

She stopped short of the exit and reluctantly turned to face him.

"Please, stay," Nick pleaded. "Give me five minutes, please. That's all I'm asking for."

Sara shrugged, folding her arms in front of her chest. "Fine."

"I'm so sorry," he started.

"Only because you got caught," Sara narrowed her eyes at him.

"No, that's not true," Nick shook his head. "I'm sorry because it was stupid and if I could take it back I would."

"Your confession or the bet?" Sara clenched her jaw.

"The bet," he replied. "I'd be lying to you if I said I was sorry for telling you how I feel about you."

"So was it just because we were holding a bomb or...," Sara raised an eyebrow, keeping her arms in their defensive position.

"Partly, I guess," Nick nodded. "I figured that if I wasn't going to say anything then, when we were dicing with death, then I don't know if I ever would have. But I promise you, I never thought about the bet, we were a little bit preoccupied."

"I guess I'll just have to take your word for it," she insisted.

"You trusted me once," Nick commented with sad eyes.

Sara looked over at the clock on the wall, ignoring his comments. "You've got about three minutes left."

"You're mad at me, I get that. I'm sure I'd be mad too," Nick began. "But can't we just have it out or something? Shout at me, tell me you hate me, anything. Just stop this, stop avoiding me."

"You should have thought of that first," she insisted.

Nick's heart sunk.

Sara looked him in the eye. "Why me?

Nick looked perplexed. "What do you...?"

"You could have any woman you want, Nick, why pick me?" she elaborated.

"I didn't pick you, Sara, that's not how it works. I had no control over it."

"But why not someone else?" she asked again.

"Because I want you, no one else," Nick smiled slightly, looking determined.

"But why?" Sara snapped.

"I love you, isn't that enough?" Nick announced.

Sara raised her eyebrows in both shock and surprise before narrowing her eyes. "Don't you dare say that if you don't mean it. In fact don't even say the L word at all."

"I do mean it, Sara. I know you've been burned by men in the past but this time it'll be different," Nick tried to explain himself.

"This time? There is no this time because there is no us, and there isn't ever going to be," she snapped, narrowing her eyes. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"I... I can't help how I feel," Nick told her, his eyes pleading with her to forgive him.

"But you can help the words that come out your mouth," Sara countered.

"Please, if you just give me a chance to explain...," Nick protested.

"You had your chance," she shook her head at him.

"Just give me...," came Nick's half-hearted attempt.

"No! You used me!"

"That's not true," Nick tried to defend himself, rather pitifully even to his own ears. "You're not listening to me. If you just let me..."

"No. We're done. Everything that we had is gone. Everything we had before doesn't exist anymore. We're not friends anymore," Sara stated.

"Don't say that," Nick sighed, his eyes full of sorrow.

"I mean it, Nick. We're done. We'll be professional during working hours, inside this building, but outside, I want nothing to do with you ever again," Sara insisted.

And with that, she was gone. Nick watched her leave, his sad eyes gazing out the doorway. Leaning back against the wall, his shoulders slumped and head low, he rubbed his forehead in frustration.

"Well done, Nicky," he mumbled through a sigh. "Well done."

Thank you for reading. This was another long one, but that's how I like it. Only one more to come. Please review.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

A/N: Okay, here it is, the final chapter. I've really enjoyed writing this and now I'm kinda sad it's finished. I'd like to thank everyone who has read this, I just hope you've enjoyed it. Merry Christmas!

Chapter 10

"Ready to go home, Sara?" Grissom asked as he stepped inside the doorway of the locker room.

Sara was absentmindedly gazing into her near empty locker, but she turned to address her supervisor with a straight, tired smile. "More than ready."

"Been one of those days?" Grissom guessed.

"Something like that," she nodded, shrugging slightly. "I'm going straight home to have a nice long bath and relax."

"Are you alright?" he asked, furrowing his brow with concern.

Sara nodded vigorously, her eyes brimming with emotion. "Aha, I'm fine. I'm always fine."

"Would you be offended if I said I didn't believe you?"

"I'm just tired, that's all," she insisted, plastering on a smile.

"Get some sleep then," Grissom told her.

"Don't worry, I will," Sara nodded.

"I'll see you tonight."

"Yes you will," Sara forced a wide smile as she watched Grissom turn and leave.

Once he'd gone her tired expression returned, followed closely by a sigh. She looked at herself in the mirror, mentally psyching herself up for the journey home. By the time she was sitting in her car her thoughts had shifted back to Nick again. She kinda felt guilty for yelling at him like she did; maybe she had overreacted just a little bit. But he'd hurt her, and while Sara doubted that had been his intention that didn't change how she felt. No, the bet wasn't exactly the crime of the century or anything but it also wasn't a very nice thing to do. He claimed to care about her, to... to love her... yet he made a bet about her. Sara wasn't exactly an expert when it came to relationships but she didn't think that messing with someone's feelings was a very good way to go about things.

She swung her apartment door closed behind her, letting it slam louder than usual. Throwing her keys down on the kitchen counter top, Sara made her way to the fridge. She fished out a bottle of water, pushing past the bottles of beer that sat in front of it; it was probably best to stay sober. She switched on the TV and lifted her legs up onto the sofa, spreading out as she searched for something half decent to watch.

Meanwhile, Nick was growing more and more frustrated by the second as he sat in a traffic jam on the opposite side of the city. He'd taken a drive to clear his head once their shift had ended, but now, as he sat gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white, he was beginning to regret that decision. Leaning back in his seat, he wondered if any of what he'd done over the past two weeks had really been worth it. What was he thinking? Would it be too cliché of him to say he hadn't been thinking? He hadn't been thinking any further ahead than that moment. He realised now that he should have, but he didn't. He had been selfish and narrow-minded. He wouldn't have blamed Sara if she hated him and really didn't want anything more to do with him. It was never supposed to happen like that. Nick understood now that there were possibly hundreds of better ways he could have chosen to tell her how he really felt about her, but it felt like the right thing to do at the time, to just come out and confess it all. Why couldn't he have just kept his mouth shut? Why couldn't he have just left things how they were? They had been muddling along just fine before, but no, he had to go and ruin everything. He had to go and think only about himself, only what he wanted. And just when he thought they were actually getting somewhere another spanner was thrown into the works. Nick felt beyond hopeless.

He smiled shyly in spite of himself as the car slowly crawled along the ground. Sometimes you need to remember the reason why you do things, what your motives and intentions were. His face broke out into a larger smile - bordering on a grin, in all honesty - as he thought of Sara. She just had this effect on him, plain and simple. With just a simple look she could turn him into mush, make his heart skip a beat. A simple touch could quite easily send a flurry of butterflies erupting inside of him. And he didn't even know where to start when she uttered his name. She was amazing, and so beautiful. How she never saw herself like that Nick would never understand. And he loved how she'd always have a glint in her eyes whenever she had an idea or a theory about a case. Oh, those eyes. They were by far the deepest, darkest, most twinkling chocolate brown eyes he'd ever seen. He could've sworn he could just get lost in them. And that smile; he was sure it could literally light up an entire room. She was just beautiful, every part of her, even her slightly-larger-than-average feet - her words, not his. She was elegant, and effortlessly so. She was thin without being skinny, yet was curvy in all the right places. He considered her to be perfect. And he wasn't going to just give up on his chance to be with the most perfect woman in the world, not lightly anyway. That was why he'd risked everything, to have a chance to be with her, and he couldn't let that slip through his fingers, he just couldn't.

And maybe more importantly he still needed to know how she felt; that much hadn't changed. He owed himself that much. It'd taken him long enough to come to terms with his feelings for her and let himself believe it wasn't a bad thing, so he wasn't just going to quit. He would almost certainly go insane if he were to just keep guessing, keep wondering. What was done was done, that couldn't be changed. And even if she doesn't come running with open arms and instead tells him she's just never thought of him in that way then at least he could finally move on with his life, at least he tried to reason as much. Maybe it wasn't a complete lost cause yet. Maybe Nick just needed to give her some more time. After all, he had had a lot more time to think things over than she had.

Nick looked into his rear view mirror, giving himself a stern look. He knew he had to get a grip. He wasn't getting anywhere by sitting there feeling sorry for himself. He couldn't change the past, no one could. He could sit there for hours thinking over everything he could've done differently - whether or not he should have made that bet, whether he should have elaborated on what Greg had said when he and Sara were standing holding a bomb in a strangers kitchen, or if he should have even taken his fathers advice in the first place - but what would it achieve? The past was irrelevant now, and it was the present that mattered. It was time for him man up and deal with the choices he'd made. Nick couldn't change the past but he could do something to alter his future.

With that, Nick revved the engine and manoeuvred his car out of the traffic jam and momentarily into the path of oncoming traffic, causing several other drivers to angrily beep their horns at him as he disappeared down a side street.

A short while later he climbed out his car, feeling his legs turn almost to jelly. God, he was nervous. He knew this was probably it; do or die. Okay, so he'd established that he wasn't going to give up yet, on what was fast becoming a fruitless exercise, for as crazy as that may sound. But he cared a lot about Sara and he didn't want to lose her, though some would say he already had. But the whole plan of not giving up had seemed so much better when he was on the other side of Vegas. He was that nervous he actually felt sick. Why was it so difficult to go and talk to her? Maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all. Nick forced himself to take a deep breath as he climbed the few flights of stairs until he reached the third floor, giving himself a pep talk as he lightly tapped on Sara's apartment door.

Nick waited patiently for her to answer. It would break him, it would actually break him if she were to turn him down. Though he feared that had already happened without the actual words being said. But he was sticking to his guns; he wasn't going to give up without a fight, without at least one last ditch attempt to save things.

Sara silently answered the door, casting him a glare.

"Hi," he smiled sheepishly.

Sara instantly began to close over the door again.

"Wait!" Nick stepped forward, trying to hold the door open. "Please, just give me a chance..."

"Just go home, Nick," she insisted before closing the door on him.

Sara waited to hear him huff and puff outside, probably even swear a few times, before he stomped down the stairs, and then hear the sound of a car door slam shut and an engine rev as it disappeared down the street but she heard no such sounds, nothing even remotely similar. After maybe ten minutes of waiting she reluctantly decided to open the door again to be greeted by Nick, sitting on her doorstep staring off into space.

"Are you gonna sit there all day?" she wondered.

"If I have to," Nick replied, looking over his shoulder.

"So you're just gonna sit there and wait? What for? For me to fall madly in love with you?" Sara glared at him.

"Or until you hear me out," he offered. "But which ever comes first."

Sara pursed her lips as he smiled sweetly at her, straightening up to face her fully. "You should probably come in then," she relented, walking off and leaving the door open for him.

Nick quickly scrambled to his feet. He followed her inside and quietly closed the door behind him.

"This place looks different. Have you redecorated?" Nick gulped, making small talk.

"You wanted something...," Sara folded her arms over her chest.

"Yes, yes I did," Nick cleared his throat. "I'm here to talk to you."

"Is that so?" she glared. "Remind me again why I should even listen to anything you have to say?"

"Can you just give me a chance to explain?" Nick asked impatiently, with a childlike expression on his face.

"You tried that," Sara reminded him, sarcastically. "Didn't work out so well."

"Just hear me out," Nick said insistently with raised his eyebrows.

Sara let out a low sigh, keeping her arms tightly folded, giving him a warning look as she waited for him to continue.

"Okay, so, a couple of weeks ago now I went back to Texas to visit my family. It was when we had that big case and you called to tell me what happened. I stayed for a week and...," Nick began.

"Yes, I know all that," Sara interrupted sternly.

"But what you don't know is I spent the whole time mopping around, well at least the first couple of days I did."

Sara looked confused.

"It was because of you, Sara," he elaborated. "I was missing you."

Sara raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"I just wasn't myself, and it was my dad who finally talked me round. I told him everything. I told him how I feel about you and how I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to ruin what we already had," Nick continued. "But he told me I should just go for it, just take the plunge and see what happens. I honestly thought he was mad, but now I know he was right. I couldn't keep it to myself anymore, and if that makes me a bad person then so be it."

Sara gave a slight nod of acknowledgment as she waited for him to continue.

"So when I got back I was all set to confess everything to you but what had seemed like a great plan back in Texas didn't seem so good when I got back here. And then we worked that case with Cal from day shift, and I gotta be honest with you, I was jealous. I'm not proud of it but it's just a fact. And Greg was all over me for it. I let win. I let him convince me that making a bet would solve all my problems, somehow make everything turn out how I wanted. But it didn't. It was more hassle than it was worth," Nick explained. "I told them I was trying to find the right time to tell you, but I don't know if I would have ever found it. I don't think there would have ever been a right time to drop that kind of bombshell on you."

Sara took a deep, slow breath as he continued.

"And then we worked that case, the case I'm sure neither of us will forget for a while, for one reason or another. And Greg was just being Greg when he called us. He was trying to be helpful in his own way. And I thought that if I didn't take the chance to tell you how I felt about you at that exact moment, when Greg had left the door open for me and we could have blown up at any second, then I never would have," Nick stated, with a sigh as he thought back over what had happened. "I probably didn't go about it the right way, and I probably didn't deal with it very good afterwards. But I don't know what to do, Sar. I don't know what to say. All I know is that I've had these feelings for you for a long time now and I needed you to know. Yes, it was selfish but I can't take back what I said."

"Why now?" Sara wondered, her voice low.

"I finally decided I needed to know what was going on inside your head, Sara. I never know what's going on inside your head at the best of times, and that is in no way a criticism, far from it," Nick replied. "It was all well and good that I knew how I felt, but I needed to know where you stood on this."

Sara shrugged slightly as she looked down. "I guess that makes sense.

"We think we have all the time in the world. We put it off and we put it off, and we put it off. But the fact is our time could be up at any time. We don't know how long we're really going to be here for. Sure, we expect to live well in excess of our eighties, especially in this day and age, but who really knows what's gonna be round the next corner?" Nick added. "Fact is, I suppose, that maybe next time we end up holding a bomb, or have a gun waved in our faces, or even the next time we get in our cars to go to work, we might not be so lucky."

"Life's way too short," Sara mumbled in agreement.

"Exactly. And I don't want to have any regrets."

Sara gulped and nervously licked her dry lips. She spoke hesitantly, "I... I still don't understand why you would do something so crazy as to grab hold of the bomb."

Nick just shrugged. "It was instinct, I guess. I knew I couldn't leave you there by yourself, and I guess I was trying to help you in the only way that I could at that moment in time. I care about you and I didn't want you to go through something like that all by yourself."

"So it wasn't because you were trying to get me into bed?" Sara gave him a look.

Nick resisted the urge to smile. "No, not at all."

"Well, you're half way there. My bedroom's only down the hall, ply with me some alcohol and I'm yours, right?"

"Do you hear yourself, Sara?" Nick raised his eyebrows, trying to subdue his a smirk that was threatening to expose itself. "Do you actually hear what you're saying?

Sara looked down and frowned slightly. "I sound bitter and twisted, I know that. But I've got every reason to be suspicious."

"I know you do," Nick nodded, his face falling slightly. "But, you know, if you're offering to sleep with me then..."

Sara looked down again so that Nick could see her smirk. "Don't even go there."

"But seriously, I like to think that I'm different to all those other stupid guys who didn't treat you right and let you slip away," Nick stated sincerely. "You mean way more to me than that."

Sara gulped. "You are different. You're honest about your feelings for one, which is a new thing for me."

"I know it's weird and scary, I know that because it's the same for me, but I just want to know where you stand in all of this. Is that so much to ask?" Nick wondered, tentatively looking at her.

Sara just looked lost, in every sense.

"It's not going away, Sara. I've tried to ignore how I feel about you, thinking it would go away in time but I'm still waiting for that to happen. At first I thought that it was just admiration for your quick thinking and your determination to find the truth that I was feeling but that's not it. I can't explain why so don't start with the twenty questions, all I know is I wouldn't change these feelings I have for you for anything," Nick stated honestly. "I'm not gonna stand here and lie to you, I want you to know the truth. I have feelings for you, and rather strong ones at that. And I needed to tell you. Yes, it was for purely selfish reasons but you know everything now. I just want us to move past this, in whatever way that is..."

Sara looked completely embarrassed, as her face turned a light shade of red.

"I think you're incredible, Sara. I have done since the first day I met you," Nick felt compelled to continue. "Lots of things have changed since then. We're older, supposedly wiser, we've convicted however many murderers and serial rapists, but the one thing that is still the same for me as it has been since you first arrived here is that I still think you're incredible."

Sara met his gaze. "I don't know what to say to that..."

"Don't say anything then," he shrugged. "If you still need more time then that's okay, I just needed you to know... to know everything really. And now you do."

"I get that," Sara nodded, gulping anxiously. "I get that you had to say what you did, but you have to understand that this is kinda new for me."

"I do. But you know, even if I wouldn't have said it out loud that wouldn't have stopped me feeling the same way," Nick stated matter-of-factly. "Yes, you wouldn't have known but I still would have had feelings for you that I was keeping to myself, and what's the point in that?"

Sara opened her mouth slightly, but words failed her.

"I know it's a massive risk to take but I think it'll be worth it in the long run," Nick continued, somewhat hesitantly. "It's scary now but we could have something really great together, maybe even in the not-so-distant future."

"You're being very presumptions, don't you think?"

"If you didn't feel anything for me than why did you need time to think about it?" Nick raised an eyebrow with curiosity. "Give us a chance."

"No, don't go there. We're not talking about this. You came here to explain and now you have so you can go," Sara demanded.

"I stand by everything I've said. I don't regret one word of it," Nick persisted.

"You can't just drop something like this on me and expect me to take it," Sara insisted, pacing around.

"I know that."

"Yet you did it anyway and expected everything to just be okay, for me to just go along with it?" Sara questioned, sarcastically.

"I don't know what I thought...," Nick admitted.

"Clearly," Sara scoffed.

"Like I already said, Sara, I don't want to have any regrets. And I guess it's coming to that stage in my life when that's important to me, when I can clearly see what it is I want. I want you, Sara. I want to be with you. But obviously that's a two person scenario, and I sorta need you to play your part in it. I don't want to force you into anything, I just want you to be happy," Nick explained.

"Can you please just go?" Sara pleaded, tears brimming in her eyes.

"You have to know that I never wanted to hurt you, Sara," Nick stated. "Regardless of whether or not you have feelings for me I care about you a lot and the last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt you."

Having made his peace, he made a move for the door.

As he left, she wiped away the few stray tears that trickled down her cheeks. That son of a gun, making her get upset like that. Who did he think he was, coming round and saying all that stuff? Who did he think he was?! She knew that women had been known to practically through themselves at him but if he thought for even one second she would be the same, be eternally grateful that he had chosen her over all others, then he was wrongly mistaken. She was beyond angry with him. How could he do this to her?

Sara wiped at her tear stained cheeks and made her way back towards her sofa. She collapsed onto the soft cushions, leaning her head back. She felt really stupid for getting upset, but she had been on an emotional roller coaster for the past couple of weeks. And a very twisty one at that. She'd had more ups and downs over the past two weeks to last her a lifetime. She was sick of the drama. She wanted her life to just be simple and easy for a change, nothing challenging or confusing. Was that too much for her to ask? But now she felt she had a new problem; how on earth could she turn him down? She couldn't break his heart like a twig, she just couldn't. She cared a great deal about him and the thought of causing him any kind of emotional trauma made her feel awful; it'd be like kicking a puppy. But did she want to turn him down? That was the perhaps the most important question.

She took a few deep steady breaths to try and calm herself down, mentally screaming at herself to count to ten. Counting had never worked for her before, as many people over the years and insisted to her, in more often than not, a patronising voice to step back and count to ten, and more often than not she'd tell them where they could stick all ten numbers. But now, she was willing the counting thing to actually work. She didn't have time to be angry, she had a thousand and one other things going through her head. She could be angry at him later. Many people would probably argue that she'd been angry enough already.

But could anyone actually blame her? Sara was scared. There, she admitted it; it was probably easier to extract evidence from a terrorist than it was for Sara to admit she had weaknesses. This she just couldn't deny. Although, if anyone were to ever challenge her on that fact she would deny it till the day she met her maker. And Nick was right, you don't ever know when your day is coming. Neither she nor Nick expected to hold a bomb at some point in the shift when they woke up that evening. No one ever really knows when their day is nigh, when the clock is about to run out. Even terminally ill patients with only a few weeks left to live can defy the odds and fight for a few more months, maybe even years, but a perfectly healthy person could walk outside and hit by a bus; it was just the roll of the dice. She truly did believe that everyone had their day set in stone, and when it was your day it was your day, like she'd said to Nick several years ago. Science tells us that we're basically programmed to die. For as morbid as that sounds, it's true. It is written in the DNA of every single one of us how we will die. So it's what we do in the in between times that matters. Now that was food for thought.

Sara leaned forward, rubbing her forehead with her hands. Maybe she had been a bit harsh to just shut the door in his face like she did. But it was so typical Nick to stay put, to wait it out. They could be just as stubborn as each other at times, and that didn't exactly help them in this sort of situation. But it had felt quite nice to find him still sitting there, actually. And she definitely had to give him points for trying, and double points for not giving up. Many people would have given up, especially on her. But Nick didn't; he wouldn't. And that felt good too. But it only confused her more.

Of course she couldn't say she wasn't physically attracted to him. But there was a lot more to him than just his handsome features and well defined abs. He was kind, genuinely caring towards other human beings. He was trusting and dependable, not to mention intelligent. He really seemed like the complete package, and how he hadn't been snapped up already she had no idea. Her attraction to him had been smouldering for a while, simmering away like a pan of water on the stove, just waiting to boil over. But in all honesty she wasn't sure how she should feel.

With him she could be herself, without worrying about being criticised or judged. There relationship was quite unique, at least Sara thought so. Not only were they very close but on a near daily basis they trusted each other with their lives. She supposed trust would never be much of an issue if they were to enter uncharted water. But then again she had had difficulty trusting people in the past, especially men. She'd somehow managed to make some crap choices when it came to potential suitors in the past, almost all of which hadn't turned out to be quite the person Sara hoped them to be, or maybe even expected them to be. Yes, she had high standards but she didn't think spending the rest of your life with someone was something you should compromise on. Nick knew all that, knew all her little quirks and yet he still stuck around, still cared about her. He understood her, he knew what made her tick. Not many people can say that. Yes, it was scary for her to think that someone knew her that well, but maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. He was patient with he, but could tell it to her straight when no else would. He was genuinely one of the nicest people she'd ever met. He was always there for her, even the times when she didn't think she needed his help. When she was with him she felt as though she could put her guard down and be herself. He was one of those kind of people that you could just get along with, who could be friends with everyone. And he was one of the few men - possibly on the whole planet - that knew how to express his feelings and wasn't scared to. That was just who he was; he always wore his heart on his sleeve. They were opposites in that fact, in how he was always open and trusting towards others while she could be more reserved when it came to having relationships with other people. But you know what they say, opposites attract.

She did feel something for him, more than a little something. She had feelings for him that were anything but friendly, that much she knew for certain. And she had tried to subdue them for the simple reason that they worked together. This was Nick; Nick from work, who she spent almost every evening with; Nick, her friend, maybe even her best friend; Nick, her knight in shining armour, always swooping in to save the day. She didn't know if it was worth the risk, and she still didn't.

Maybe there was some chemistry there between them, maybe there always had been. So maybe they should do something about it, she mused. After all, it has been scientifically proven by psychologists that if you subdue your feelings you only make them worse. Plus, it wasn't exactly very healthy for them both to keep their feeling pent up inside. But a man and a woman can just be friends without anything untoward going on, or without having feelings for each other. It did happen; it could happen. It wasn't impossible. But it also wasn't unheard of for a person to fall in love with their best friend.

However, she was still hurting. She'd trusted him, and a small part of her felt betrayed. Sara was still feeling bewildered by the whole thing, and still somewhat baffled by where her own feelings lay, when she'd become aware of the bet that had been made between Nick and Greg. It hadn't turned out to be as bad as she first thought, and it was on the most part harmless yet Sara had still felt hurt by what they did. But she was trying her best to get past it and focus on what was important. But it was turning out to be harder than she first thought. As she sat with her head in her hands she wondered why she'd ever trusted him. The bet might have been harmless but it put everything into doubt in Sara's mind. She couldn't believe he was doing this to her. How could he be so selfish? She was almost at the stage of trusting him with her heart when Greg had let it slip. Maybe that was the most confusing part. One minute, she'd be actually contemplating having a relationship with him and the next, she'd wonder if he actually meant what he said. Having said that, the look in his eyes when he as he poured his heart out to her only a short while ago convinced her that he was telling the truth. Nick was many things - kind, thoughtful, intelligent, dependable, sweet, strong just to name a few - but deceitful was of one of them. Maybe Doc Robbins had been right, maybe what she had to focus on was her own feelings.

She straightened up and continued thinking, weighing up the pros and cons. At times it seemed like there were more pros than cons but others it seemed that there was more cons than pros. But which ever way the pendulum swung, it was always going to be risky. Because that's exactly what it was, a risk. It was like they were gambling down in one of Vegas' many casinos, but with something much more valuable than money; their feelings. And she feared what would happen if they were to have a messy break up, or be forced apart. She didn't know what would happen if they were to get together and stay together either, what that would mean for them working together and what their superiors would have to say about it. And that's not to mention what their friends would say about it.

With him she could be happy. Maybe be truly happy for the first time in her life. She could let him love her, and in turn learn to love him back. They could have something incredibly special together. They could have the perfect life together, live happily ever after like in some kind of fairy tale. Whilst she'd long since stopped believing in fairy tales somehow she could convince herself to believe in this, in him. Yes, she was scared. But fear wasn't always something to be feared. Fear can be healthy, normal even. It's normal to be scared of things, even small minuet things. In all honesty she was probably freaking out so much at the thought of everything good in her life falling apart, and what she and Nick had right now was good. But fear was telling her that maybe it could be even better. Good things come to those who wait. And they'd waited long enough.

Sara quickly rose to her feet, grabbing her car keys and heading out the door before she had the chance to change her mind. Life was too short to wake up with regrets. So, if you're lucky enough to get a chance at something, you should take it, because who knows if it'll ever come back around again. And you never know, it just might change your life. Nobody said it would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it. Sometimes you just have to cross your fingers, close your eyes and dive in head first, hoping for the best. Yes, she was scared of getting her heart broken again, but she was throwing caution to the wind; acting first and asking questions later. But something's had to be done on impulse. She was quite possibly mad for doing this, but she climbed into her car regardless. Sara had made up her mind.

On the drive over to Nick's house, Sara turned the radio on to distract her. She was going to do this and she wasn't going to turn back. She'd somehow managed to convince herself that maybe, just maybe, the potential outcome would be worth the risk. She'd decided to throw caution to the wind, and follow her heart. It wasn't long before she was pulling into Nick's driveway.

Hands shaking, she knocked on the door. She anxiously stood fidgeting, breathing deeply to try and take back some control of the situation. The sooner he answered the door the better.

Inside his home, Nick woke with a start. Was that the door? He pushed himself up to a seating position on the sofa, where he'd drifted off after consoling himself with a beer or two. He couldn't do anything to stop the yawn that surfaced as he tried to stretch out his crumpled body. Finding his feet, he scooped up his t-shirt from the back of the sofa and walked to the door. Bleary eyed and not fully awake yet, Nick pulled on his t-shirt before opening the door.

Nick's eyes instantly lit up, and a smile took over his tired face.

"Is it a bad time?" Sara blurted out the moment she saw him.

"No, not at all," he shook his head, opening the door wider for her to come in.

"We're not very good at timings - you and me - are we?" Sara questioned, almost rhetorically, as she stepped inside his hallway.

Nick closed the door and turned to face her. "I guess not," he shrugged.

"You, saying what you did when we were holding a bomb; me, coming round here like this..." she continued. "But I'm glad you told me, I'm glad I know."

"Well, I'm glad that you're glad," Nick smiled, nervously shoving his hands into his pockets.

"And getting the timing right in these sort of instances is quite important," Sara stated, inhaling sharply.

"I suppose so," Nick nodded, smiling politely.

"The people involved need to ready, emotionally and physically, for the timing to be right for them," Sara maintained, gulping. "That's the most important thing."

Nick just nodded, waiting for her to continue.

"I've gotta be honest, Nick, I changed my mind half a dozen times since you left. It'll be such a risk, and I'm really not sure if that's a risk worth taking. We'll be playing Russian roulette, not only with our feelings but with our careers too."

"I know," Nick sighed, bracing himself for her words to tear his world apart.

"But here I am, and I'm about to do something crazy. But you've gotta do something you've never done in order to get something you've never had. I'm gonna ignore every shred of evidence that suggests that this'll end badly, and let us make the decisions for a change. The ball's in our court; our fate is in our hands."

Nick smiled broadly, in disbelief.

"I can't make any promises, neither of us can," she continued, meeting his gaze. "Things might work out, they might not. We're probably stupid for even doing this, for even contemplating it. Who knows, we might end up hating each other."

"Or we could live happily ever after together," he grinned, a glint in his eye.

"I don't believe in happily ever after," she stated, glancing at the floor.

"You should," Nick insisted, as he stepped towards her, cupped her face with his hands and kissed her gently on the lips.

Thank you for reading. This is another very long one, but that's always a good way to end it. More to dome from me soon. Please review.


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